No one can tear us apart
by Butterflygirl1234
Summary: Starr and Cole ran away after she found out she was pregnant. They have a new life now but Starr wants to revisit their family so they go back to Llanview with their child. They're nineteen-years-old so Todd can't try to break up their family or can he?
1. Chapter 1

**No one will tear us apart**

"Happy Birthday Starr!"

"Hapy Birth-day Mommy!"

It was a Saturday afternoon in the season of May at 7:00pm. The sun had gone down, now a half a moon came up the navy colored sky shining with many glowing dots. Today was Starr Thoreheart's birthday, her husband Cole and her two-year-old daughter Nichole had just placed a vanilla- choclate flavored cake on the table with lit candles.

"Got it at the finest bakery you will ever go to in the city" Cole boasted "nineteen candles and everything".

Starr blushed "wow first it's that big breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes this morning now this, you guys are too much".

Nichole came up beside her mother " mommy, make a wish now".

Starr smiled at her daughter, today Nichole wore a bright purple top with white jeans and her short blonde hair that was inches above her shoulders had a purple clip on it. Starr closed her eyes pausing for a moment, then she took a deep breath and blew hard causing all the yellow flames on the candles to disappear. Everyone clapped, Cole came up to Starr to give her a quick kiss on the lips which Nichole had to cover her eyes from.

"Eww" she said.

Starr and Cole giggled before he said "Happy birthday Starr I love you".

"I love you too".

She felt a tug at her sleave "can we have cake now?" Nichole asked.

"Of course little girl" Cole said picking up a knife "I'll cut".

He handed Starr the first piece and then Nichole a smaller one since both of the parents did not want her to have too much sugar, then cut one for himself.

Whien the cake eating was finished Cole came up handing his wife a yellow bag with blue tissue in it.

"Now" he announced "time for presents".

"Oh, I always love presents" Starr gushed taking the bag . She tore out the tissue taking out a purple card that was made of construction paper. It had a picture of a rainbow colored red,orange, yellow, green, indigo, blue and violet "I bet I know who made this" Starr said at Nichole causing her to smile. She opened the card, **Happy Birthday **was written in black crayon and a poem was written as well. She read it aloud "**Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you, love Nichole and daddy**".Starr laughed hugging her daughter ''thank-you Nichole, it's beautiful".

"Welcome mommy" Nichole said "daddy help me make card".

"Well I think daddy was a very good helper" Starr agreed smiling at Cole.

"That was our deal" Cole explained "I help her make the card and she helps me pick out your present".

Starr returned her gaze at the bag, she drove her hand inside taking out a small blue velvet box. Starr opened it revealing a dimond necklace in the shape of a star attached to a silver chain. Her mouth dropped open and no words came out.

Seeing this, Cole smiled picking up his daughter "see" he whisphered "I told you she'd love it".

"Oh my gosh!" Starr exclaimed holding them in a tight embrace "it's lovely!"

Nichole pointed at the necklace "star like mommy".

"Yes" Starr smiled "mommy's name is star". She then stared at Cole "I can't believe you did this".

"What can I say?" Cole shrugged taking her chin in his hand "you're worth it". He gazed at Nichole "now that mommy has finished opening her presents I think it's time we play the birthday game".

"Wat that daddy?" Nichole blinked.

He gazed at Starr who had finally put her present down and winked. "Well," Cole smirked "it's a game where I pick you up and we GO GIVE MOMMY HER BIRTHDAY TICKLES!"

Nichole smirked back giving her mom a scary roar.

Starr pretended to scream and ran into the living room hiding behind the coach. Still carrying his daughter Cole ran to where his wife was. "C'mon Nichole" he cheered "go get her!"

Nichole ran up to Starr gently tickling her under the arms, Starr laughed pretending to beg for mercy. Cole laughed out loud then scoped up his child pulling her away "good job" he said holding up his hand "high five".

Nichole gently slapped it. Starr came out from her hiding place, "why don't we watch some tv now?" she suggested " maybe there's a good movie on".

"Of course honey" Cole nodded grabbing the remote and taking a seat beside her "I'll check ".

Nichole hurried over to sit on her mother's lap. Luckily for them there was Footloose, one of Starr's favorite classic movies. When it was over Starr looked at the clock, it was 8:07 pm. " All right Niki" Starr said facing her "time for bed".

Nichole yawned "k mommy" she reached up to give her dad a slobbery wet kiss on the check "night dada".

Cole hugged her "good-night sweetie".

As soon as the embrace was over Starr picked up her daughter carrying her into the bathroom. There she helped her wash her face, brush her teeth and put on her favorite dark pink Dora the Explorer pyjamas on. After Starr tucked her in bed, when they both finished saying their prayers she kissed Nichole's forehead.

"Good-night baby thank-you for the wonderful presents, mommy really loved them".

"Welcome mommy, night".

Starr headed out, before she closed the door she turned back "I love you".

"Love you too" Nichole replied closing her eyes.

Starr closed the door and pressed her ear against it. When she knew Nichole was fast asleep (by hearing a soft snoring sound) she walked back to the kitchen. Cole had turned off the t.v and was now putting away the dishes in the dish washer. He smiled seeing his wife "hey".

"Hey" Starr said placing foil around the rest of the cake and sticking it into the fridge. Cole came up from behind her wrapping his arms around her waist causing her to get excited.

"So?" he said in her ear "was this a good birthday or what?"

She faced him "more than good, it was great".

He began kissing both her cheeks "but you know what I still have another present to give you".

Starr put her arms around his neck "oh what?"

"Well it's something I think you'll really like" Cole flirted "and since our daughter is a heavy sleeper.."

Starr pulled away, taking his hands in hers and leading him into the bedroom.


	2. Chapter 2

_Note:_ _I was watching clips about Starr and Cole so I decided to write a story since I'm siding with the people who wanted to keep them on the run longer. Sorry for this chapter being so short but I'm focusing more on Starr and Cole since this is a story about them mostly. Don't worry, the action in Starr's family will come later when they decide to go back to Landview. _

**No one can tear us apart**

Blair Cramer looked outside her window. The half- moon decided to come out more to show its other side and was now full. She sat on her bed, the only speck of light she had was the night-light that sat on her night-stand. Blair shivered in her pink silk gown, the house felt so cold and lonely. Her aunt Dorian was sleeping so were her sons Sam and Jack and her husband was drowning himself at work (he usually got home really late). That didn't bother Blair, what really bothered her was the day . Even though it had been a couple of years she still remembered today was her daughter's birthday. She would have turned nineteen-years-old, the two would have spend their day shopping nonstop, getting manicures, pedicures at Rocky's going out for lunch together just the two of them, and having a big family party. But those things were shattered because when Starr was just sixteen she ran away with her boyfriend Cole Thoreheart.

Mostly the blame was pointing towards Todd. How dare he Blair thought trapping my daughter like a wild animal in her cage that's what caused her to run away. She knew Cole didn't rape her daughter, no way would Starr love him if he did something like that. Then why am I still with Todd? Blair asked herself I guess I don't want to take his other children away from him and keeping our family together is the only thing that's healing us from Starr's disappearance. She focused on the package she had in her hand taking out a small chocolate cupcake. Blair lite a candle on the small pastry, she would have told her boys but didn't want to upset them for she knew they missed their sister way more than she did. Blair looked deeply in the candle-light before taking a deep breath and blowing hard. She turned back fixing her eyes back at the full-moon which was now surrounded by glowing stars "Happy birthday my darling Starr" she said as tears came into her eyes "I hope you're happy wherever you are". Blair turned out the light, put the cupcake on her night-stand and burried her face in her pillow when more tears came out causing her pillow to get soaked. She ignored it only thinking of her daughter growing into a more mature adult today and unlike any other mothers Blair wasn't there to celebrate it with her.


	3. Chapter 3

**No one can tear us apart**

Starr and Cole were sleeping soundly when a memory flashed into Starr's head.

_Flashback _

_On a sandy beach _

_"Dad are you there?" Starr asked on her cell-phone._

_The connection was a little static but Todd was able to hear his daughter's voice "yes honey I'm here, I'm here, are you all right?"_

_"Yeah I'm fine" Starr replied glancing at her boyfriend "Cole has been amazing"._

_Todd's face grew red but he kept calm "Starr why did you take off? It seemed to me that were were doing so much better, I was easying up on Cole wasn't I?"_

_Starr sighed "yeah you were"._

_"Yeah" Todd agreed "so why did you run away?"_

_She rubbed her stomach nervously but was determined to keep the pregnancy a secret "you know why I ran away" Starr said angrily "because I couldn't take it anymore, you wouldn't listen to me and you wouldn't accept Cole"._

_"I was trying too"__._

_"Oh by what?" Starr rolled her eyes "by telling him that I might be able to see him in six months"._

_"Did Cole convince you to run away" Todd said with a dark tone._

_"No!" she snapped "he didn't convince me to do anything, I ran away because I love him and..." she hung her head realising that her dad would not listen no matter what she said. "You now what forget it your never going to change dad, just tell mom, Jack, and Sam that I love them okay.." she was about to hang up when his voice stopped her._

_"No wait! Starr wait!" Todd interupted "listen I'm sorry and I'd like to make it up to you and Cole"._

_She paused listening with interest._

_"Listen" Todd said "I'm sorry okay, I know what I did was wrong and I promise if you come home now you can see Cole anytime you want"._

_But I'm pregnant, if you found out you would make sure Cole and me were separated for good Starr wanted to say but kept slient. _

_For a moment she was certain she heard her dad sniffle a little bit._

_"Please" he pleaded "we all miss you just come home and be our little girl again"._

_"Dad I can't" Starr started to tear up "I can't be that little girl anymore" she told him before hanging up the phone and sinking to her knees. Cole came over holding her._

_She began crying in his chest "I can't be that little girl anymore" she repeated "I can't"._

The sound of seagulls brought her back to the world she was in now. Starr jolted awake covering herself with the blanket, she looked at Cole who was still asleep with his arm around her. Not wanting to disturb him, Starr got out of bed quietly and placed her white robe on. She made her way into the living-room glacing at the clock- it was 8:00 am. Starr pressed a button on the coffee machine watching the dark brown liquid come out slowly into the pot. While she waited for it, she opened the screen door on the balcony and sat on one of the chairs staring at the view of the beach. The warm sun had come up making the sand look more golden-coloured. The blue-foaming water that matched the blue cloud-less sky was crashing small blue waves on the big black rocks that stood out.

Starr sighed lightly, I wish Jack and Sam could see this. This drew back her attention to the memory she had, should we go back to Llanview? She asked herself she truly did miss her family but how could she tell her mom that she had a granddaughter after all these years. What about her dad, well he wasn't in charge of her life anymore now that she was older but if he found out about Nichole there would be a bloody battle between him and her husband. But on the bright side they could see Langston and Markko again. There wasn't a day that had gone by where they hadn't thought about their best friends who helped them through everything. "I can't think about this right now" Starr said out loud "Cole and I are going to have to discuss later".

"Discuss what later?"

Starr turned around to see him standing there wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt holding two mugs filled with coffee.

"Oh good morning" she smiled cheerfully "did I wake you up?"

Cole shook his head "I heard a nosie from the coffee machine and when I saw that you weren't there beside me I decided to get up" he handed her a mug before taking a seat beside her.

"Thanks" Starr said sipping the warm beverage.

"So?" Cole said "what did you want to discuss with me about".

"Well I was thinking..."

"Thinking about what?"

"Well remember when we first decided to run away?" she asked "you said that we would go away for a couple of years until we were old enough for our family not to do anything to us".

"Yeah" Cole nodded.

"Well..." Starr wanted to tell him but didn't know how to explain.

"Are you thinking of us going back to Llanview" he said with a serious tone.

She felt a sight of fear, "you know what forget I said anything".

"No, no it's okay" Cole assured her "to tell you the truth I've been actually thinking about it as well".

Starr eye's were wide "you have? For how long?"

"Two weeks before your nineteeth birthday" he replied "I kept telling myself that eventually you would want to go back home since you miss your family plus I've been kind of missing Markko, Matthew, Nora". He placed his hand on hers looking deep into her eyes "Starr if that's what you really want we can go back to Llanview, all we need is days off from work and three tickets then we're there".

"really?"

"Yeah" he said "really".

A silence occured between the two of them until she finally broke it "Cole listen" she said "I love our new life together our jobs,our new house, but most of all" she gently kissed him "our beautiful daughter but I still feel and emptyiness inside of me so..."

"So you still want to go back to Llanview" he finished, drinking his coffee.

"Just for a visit" Starr said "I just want to see the people that I've missed and for my mom to met her granddaughter".

"Hey it's fine" Cole smiled "when we go to work tomorrow we can see what time we can get off the sooner the better".

"You are so great, why did my dad even think about keeping us apart for a second".

"He can't now, we're married with a child".

They were about to lean forward for another kiss when a familiar giggle was heard behind them. The couple turned and saw Nichole behind the screen- door still in her pyjamas.

Starr smiled "good morning baby".

Nichole smiled back "morning mommy" she said running to her, her mother wrapped her arms around her small shoulders.

"Hey I have an idea after breakfast why don't we go to the beach?" Cole suggested "it's suppossed to be twenty-eight degrees today".

"Yes! Yes!" Nichole said jumping up "beach! Beach!"

Starr nodded "I think that sounds good, now let's go finish our coffee" she faced Nichole "and have some Lucky Charms cereal".

As they made their way into the kitchen Cole whisphered "is there any chance the both of us could swim without bathing- suits".

Starr punched him playfully "please honey" she laughed "not if front of Nichole".


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry for not updating in a while, I've just been so busy with homework and other things. Anyway here's chapter 4 I hope you like it._

No one can tear us apart

Blair made her way down the stairs awkwardly since she did not get much sleep the night before. Her blonde hair was messed up in tangles and the dark circles under her eyes were huge. She walked in finding her mother, Addie Cramer making scrambled eggs and toast.

"Good-morning Blair" She said cheerfully.

"Morning mama" Blair grumbled taking a seat at the table "are the boys up yet?"

"Yes" Addie replied, "they're in Jack's room playing video games".

"Where's Dorian?"

"Oh she went shopping" her mother said now taking out a carton of orange juice and pouring it into four cups. It took her a while to notice her daughter's face "wow, look what the cat coughed up".

Blair groaned "mama I'm really not in the mood for your comments right now".

"No wonder" Addie said handing her a glass "you look like you haven't slept in days, plus over the last three years you've lost twenty pounds'.

Blair sipped the drink not saying anything.

"I know what you are going through" she continued " with Starr but you can't punish yourself for the rest of your life" she placed the food and rest of the drinks on the table.

"I am not punishing myself " Blair sighed, "it just that it was supposed to be Starr's nineteenth birthday yesterday and being her mother I wasn't there celebrating to with her".

Addie patted her on the back "I know, we all should have been there but you have to forget the past and move on with your life".

"How can I forget my own daughter!" Blair shouted sitting up, "She was my first child! My baby dammit and now you want me to just forget her like she was nothing!"

Addie froze surrendering her arms.

Realizing what just happened, she hung her head sinking back on the chair "I'm sorry mama I…"

"No it's fine dear" her mother assured her feeling sadness in her heart. She turned away "I'll get the boys ready" Addie said stepping out of the kitchen and climbing up the stairs.

When she was gone Blair picked at the food on her plate with a fork. What's happening to me? She asked herself I'm acting just like Todd but I can't, he's already put too much suffering in this family already, they don't need anymore. I just miss my daring girl so much. A smile came on to her face while she began to remember a time when they were both happy.

_Flashback_

_In Starr's room._

_Starr is looking at herself in the mirror wearing an aquamarine colored dress with her hair up and is looking nervous going to her school's dance. Blair comes in with a camera smiling "honey, you look beautiful"._

_Her daughter turned away "you're just saying that to make me feel better"._

"_No" Blair said walking up and facing her "I'm saying that because it's true". _

_Starr smiles._

_"So?" Blair asked "are you ready for the dance tonight? The limo is right outside waiting for you"._

_Starr's smile quickly fades "yeah I guess, I'm just really nervous"._

_"Nervous about what?"_

_"It's just that it's going to be me and Cole's first dance together"._

_Her mother took a photo "yes and Langston and Markko will be there as well "._

_Starr blinked with a worried look in her eyes "what if something goes wrong like Britney gets one of her horrible plans up her sleave and..."_

_Blair touched her chin forcing her to meet her gaze "nothing will go wrong I promise you that, as for Britney if she does something feel free to give her a couple of punches"._

_" Thanks mom" Starr said hugging her "You always know what to say, I love you"._

_She kissed her daughter's head " I love you too sweetheart" she held her tighter then..._

Dingdong!

The doorbell interrupted the memory.

Dingdong!

Blair got up and walked over to the door "who is it?"

"It's John McBain".

_John? _She thought fixing up her hair. Even thought he was just the head of the police office Blair always felt something special when he was around her and always felt that she needed to look pleasant but never knew why. She took out a small black compact still fumbling around with her stubborn hair.

"I'll be right there!" Blair called, when her hair looked neat enough. She ran to the door opening it seeing him standing there smiling and holding a bouquet of white roses.

"Hi John" she greeted him "how are you?"

"Fine" he said "how are you?"

"Oh I'm fine" she answered stepping aside "please come in".

As soon as they were in the kitchen John handed her the flowers "these are for you" he said.

"Oh thank- you" Blair smiled smelling them "they're beautiful would you like some orange juice or anything?"

"It's alright I'm fine" he replied taking a seat.

She put the flowers in a vase before taking a seat next to him.

John noticed her plate "are you having breakfast?"

Blair shoved it to the corner "yes, but I'm not eating yet until my mother is finished getting my boys up".

"Where's your husband".

"He usually works early on the weekends".

There was a slience between them before she spoke again "so what's with bringing me the flowers?"

"Well I thought I'd cheer you up" John explained "I knew you would be feeling sadness since yesterday was your Starr's birthday.

"Oh yeah" Blair said hanging her head then raised it " wait you remembered?"

"Dorian told me last night" he said "she called and said you needed someone to talk to".

Blair clenched her teeth, _Dorain I'm gonna kill her! _

"I'm fine" she assured him "I just had a little small celebration last night by my self since I didn't want to worry anyone ".

John nodded "I'm sorry about Starr, we did everything we could to find her..."

"It's okay" Blair said touching his hand "the only person who is responsible for her and Cole disappearing is Todd, I hate the the pressure he put my daughter through".

"Then why are you still with him?"

Before she could answer Addie came back in with Jack and Sam all dressed up, "Blair" she said sadly but her mood rose with excitment seeing her hand on John's.

"Why hello there lieutenant" she smiled "how nice to see you".

"Hello Mrs. Cramer it's nice to see you too" John smiled back as Blair slipped her hand away.

Jack and Sam poked their heads behind their grandmother "morning mom, Morning Mr. McBain".

"Good-morning" the adults said.

"Hey I have an idea" Addie suggested "John why don't you stay here for breakfast? We have enough food for everybody".

John shook his head "I'm sorry but I have a really important meeting to attend right now, I was just dropping by to say hi".

He faced Blair "it was nice seeing you".

"Nice seeing you too and thank- you again for the flowers''.

"He got you flowers!" Addie exclaimed.

Blair ignored her leading John to the door, after he left she went back to the kitchen. Jack and Sam were eating their breakfast while talking to each other.

Her mother was drinking her juice when her daughter came up taking her arm and leading her into the hallway where they could have a private conversation.

"What do you think you're doing?" Blair whisphered angrily.

"What? I was just being friendly"

"By teaming up with Dorian to try to put us together?"

Addie sipped her drink again " you could take him to the sepcial Llanview event that's happening next week".

Blair showed her mother her finger which still had her engagement ring on it.

"Darling no offence but I don't think you're marriage is not working out, what happens when you look at Todd?"

"Nothing" she admitted crossing her arms over her chest.

"Exactly" Addie said walking back into the kitchen.

That still doesn't give her the right to run my life Blair thought but maybe she's right, if my marriage isn't working out then I thinks it's time to divorce Todd and move on.


	5. Chapter 5

**No one can tear us apart**

Daycare center

Cole stepped on the brakes causing his blue car on the sidewalk. Starr unfolded her seat belt and grabbed the pink baby bag, today she wore a casual pair of blue jeans with a coral long sleeve top that had the logo _Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow _on it, her husband also wore blue jeans with a dark green shirt. It was a Monday morning at 7:00pm and the parents were getting ready to go to work and ask the certain times they could get off. Nichole stood still in her car seat looking out the window wide awake since she went to bed really early the night before, she wore a yellow top with blue jeans and a jacket. Starr opened the door unbuckling her daughter carefully then picked her up.

Cole pressed a button to unroll the window on the seat where Starr previously had sat looking at her "okay I'll call you after I have a talk with the principal".

Starr nodded and closed the car door "okay bye I love you".

"I love you too".

"Love you too daddy" Nichole squeaked in her mother's arms.

Her dad smiled "love you too Niki". He rolled the window back up, turned the car around and drove away.

When the vehicle was out of sight Starr placed Nichole on the ground leading her into the Daycare. They opened the door to the main playroom, the walls were painted dark green with bright yellow accents. In the corner there was a small playground, two tables and chairs to the right, a box of toys and a huge playpen stood in the middle. Some eight and nine-year olds were playing in the playground while the five, four and three year-olds were on the table coloring and playing with toys.

"Nichole why don't you go play" Starr said helping her take off her purple jacket "I'll be in the grown- up room talking with Misty".

Nichole nodded and ran to the playground.

Still holding the baby bag her mother walked into the staffroom passing other rooms like the small library where the children would have story time or just read or do their homework after school. She found Misty in the snack room wiping up the table and taking dishes out of the dishwasher. Misty owned the _Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow_ daycare since she had two children of her own who attended there. She was a tall-skinny-woman in her early-thirties and wore a red top and jeans with her long black hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Good-morning Starr" she smiled giving her a hug "how are you?"

"Fine" Starr replied setting down her bag "where's is everybody?"

Misty sighed "major traffic jam, parents and staff members keep calling me saying that they're going to be late".

"What would you like me to do?" Starr asked putting on her name tag.

"You can watch the kids in the playroom" Misty said " but first I have something to give you". She went to a plastic bag and took out a box-set of perfume that smelled like lavender. "It's a late birthday present" Misty smiled.

She smiled back taking the gift "thanks Misty but you didn't have to get me anything".

The lady touched her shoulder "oh c'mon, everyone needs to give their friend a present on their birthday, besides I don't think it's more better than that" she pointed to the necklace.

Starr touched it "yeah, Cole and our daughter bought it for me on Saturday".

"Well you deserve it, after all you and Cole have been through".

Starr bit her lip "uh.. well actually I have to talk with you about something".

Misty closed the dishwasher "okay spill".

Starr put the present in her bag "I was just wondering what times I could get off work for like maybe a week or so".

"It depends, where do you have to go?"

"Cole and I are going back to Llanview for a while".

Misty gave her a serious look "you mean back to where your dad is?"

Starr nodded " Cole and I are young adults now, no one can control our life anymore".

"But hows your mom going to react when she finds out about Nichole?" Misty asked "or worse how is your dad going to?"

"He's just going to have to accept it" Starr said "and if he doesn't then he won't be allowed in me or her life".

"You're really serious about this aren't you?"

"Yes".

"Okay let me just get breakfast ready" Misty said "I'll check my calendar after the others drive the kids to school".

"Thanks I'll start getting to work now " Starr said walking out. As she made her way into the playroom she couldn't help but smile. Misty had been a great friend to her after all those years even when Starr told her about running away with Cole as a young teen and how crazy her dad Todd Manning was. Instead of reporting her to the police, she vowed never to expose her secret to anyone until it was safe. Misty was kind of like the Langston friend Starr had back in Llanview.

Virgina High School

The lacrosse time were just sitting on the bleachers when their coach had arrived. He came alongside dragging his gym bag over his shoulder.

Cole blew his whistle causing everybody to come in a circle "Good-morning how is everybody doing?"

"Good!" the team answered.

"Okay" Cole said "we're going to do a warm up first so I want three laps around the track".

The players immediately obeyed and began running.

Just then a short black male came out of the school wearing gray pants and a shirt.

"What up dogg?" he said coming up.

Cole smiled seeing his friend and assistant coach.

"Good morning to you too Derek" he said.

Derek glanced at the team "so what is their coach going to make them do after the warm-up?"

"Actually you are going to do that for today" Cole told him.

"Really why?"

"I have to talk with Aaron about what possible days I could get off for a couple of weeks".

Derek gave him a confused look "you mean, you're going on a trip".

Cole nodded "Starr and I are taking Nichole to Llanview for a visit ".

"You mean back to where her crazy old man lives?"

"Yeah".

"That's a joke!" Derek exclaimed "are you out of your mind! You'll get yourself killed!" He paused knowing that he had overreacted, luckily the players were still running so they didn't hear him. He calmed himself down looking at the coach "look man I wasn't there when it happened but you did tell me that Starr's dad beat you up because he thought you raped her..."

"I did not rape her" Cole interrupted "I would never do that to Starr".

"I know man" Derek said "and I believe you but when Todd finds out that you got his daughter knocked up and kept it for three years it will be a blood bath between the both of you".

"I'm not asking for that" Cole said before hanging his head and whispering "when me and Starr first found out that she was pregnant I told her that we would run away and come back in a couple of years when our families couldn't do anything to us". He raise his head back up "I intend to keep my word to her now that the time has come".

His friend did not reply for a long time then he understood "okay I support your decision because we're home boys right?" he held up his fist.

"That's right man" Cole agreed punching it playfully just as the lacrosse players were coming in.

"Okay everybody listen up" he announced "I have a meeting to attend with Mr. Zwipe so coach Wilson here is going to take over today's practice is everybody clear?"

"Yes!" the team said.

He gave Derek a gentle slap on the shoulder "there all yours homeboy and next time don't cut practice short just because you have to use the washroom" he began to walk toward the door at the back of the school.

"I had to go bad!" Derek yelled causing some of the players to laugh.

Cole smiled heading for the principal's office, Derek was kind of like the Markko friend he had back in Llanview.


	6. Chapter 6

**No one can tear us apart**

_"And the genie placed his hand on the little boy's shoulder and said your wish is my command". _After a quick breakfast and a small visit from John McBain, Blair took a shower and got dressed. Addie had gotten Jack to help her clean the dishes when she promised to take him to his friends house for the day so that was where they were now. Sam had gotten dressed as well and stood quietly on the couch while his stepmother read his favorite story to him. The sun shined brightly in the morning sky pierceing a streak of golden-light throught the living room window.

Blair smiled placing an arm around Sam as she continued to read "_And the little boy_..."

Suddenly the door burst open "honey it's me I'm home" a gargled voice said. Todd stepped in wearing his usual brown working clothes and had his light brown hair all messy in the front.

"Hi dad" Sam waved.

"Hey buddy whatcha doing?"

"Mom's reading me a story".

Todd rolled his eyes looking up at the ceiling "stories? C'mon, stories are for babies how old are you again?"

"He's five Todd" Blair answered getting mad "and stories can be for anybody who wants to listen".

"Whatever" Todd said walking into the kitchen "I'm hungry".

Blair rolled her eyes and closed the book "Sam can you go upstairs? I have to talk with your dad for a while".

He pouted a little but after gave in and took the book walking up the stairs.

Todd was just going through the fridge when his wife came up"I'm surprised to see you home so early today?"

He faced her "well, I wasn't feeling very good so I decided to take the rest of the day off". He moved closer and held her in his arms ackwardly "besides aren't you happy to see me" he asked reaching for a kiss.

"Oh!" Blair exclaimed smelling his breath and pushing him away "have you been drinking?"

"Okay so you aren't happy" Todd said opening the fridge again.

"You haven't answered my question Todd" she snapped "have you been drinking?"

"I just went to the bar and had a couple of shooters" he said goofly drinking milk from a carton.

Blair crossed her arms over her chest "wow, you blow a day of work and then take drown yourself in alcohol, that's pathetic".

"Whatever" Todd said walking out of the room.

The anger grew inside her as she walked forward stepping in front of him "no it's not whatever" she said "in fact I think I think it's time we start talking about our marriage".

He groaned "can we do it later? I'm tired".

"No!" she shouted "it can't wait! We have to discuss this now! Todd for the past three years I have stayed with you because I felt keeping our family together would ease our pain over Starr's disapperance but I can see now that it is not working".

Todd grew mad "She wouldn't have run away if that moron punk didn't rape her".

"Oh please" Blair moaned "you know that's not true, if he did rape our daughter do you think she would be stupid enough to run away with him?"

There was a bit of slience before he smirked "John McBain".

"What?"

"I knew there was something going on between the two of you".

She gasped "how could you ever thing that I would cheat behind your back" the anger filled inside her heart again "you know marriage is about trust and since we don't have it -I want a divorce". She walked over and opened the door "Get out of my house!"

"With pleasure" he sneered stepping out.

As soon as he was out of the doorway Blair shut it and sank to her knees closing her eyes. Tears came but she contiued to let them flow for she finally felt free in the first time of her life.

A small voice came up "mommy are you okay?"

Blair opened her eyes seeing Sam on the stairs with the book still in his hands.

She smiled and wiped her eyes standing up "I'm fine honey, now let's finish that story".

_Again sorry for the chapter being so short. _


	7. Chapter 7

**No one can tear us apart**

The halls of the school were quiet as Cole made his way down. The principal Aaron was an older man. He and Cole for the past three years had developed kind of a father- son relationship since Cole had no other parent now that his mom and dad were both gone. Aaron knew all about Cole and Starr's past when Cole first applied for a job at the school but like Derek he understood giving it to him and vowing never to tell their secret. Besides the young man was extremly good since Virgina Highschool had won several first- place championships.

Cole knocked on the office door.

"Come in" a voice said.

He opened the door to find Aaron sitting at his desk wearing a burgundy dress shirt and black dress pants. "Good- Morning Cole" he smiled sitting up and shaking his hand "please sit down".

Cole took a seat "Good-morning Aaron".

"How is the family doing?"

"Good, I just wanted to have a small talk with you" Cole looked over his shoulders to make sure the other teachers were not listening in the conversation "I was thinking about what certain days I could get off work".

Aaron tapped his fingers lightly on the desk "Is there a certain place you plan going to?"

The man stood up and closed the door before taking a seat back down "yes" he answered lowering his voice so only the principal would hear "Starr and I are thinking of taking Nichole back to Llanview for a visit."

Aaron ran his fingeres throught his gray hair "are you and your wife certain that is the best decision, I mean it has been..."

"Three years" Cole finished "I know but there is a lot of people that we've missed including Nichole's only grandmother and we do not want her growing up not knowing who she is and the people who helped Starr and I run away to our freedom".

"But what about your wife's father?" Aaron asked "I knew that girl's father, we went to the same college" He paused "we stopped becoming friends when he started showing more of the dark side in him as he skipped out at school, destroyed property and attack younger girls like your mother".

Cole hung his head.

"And" the principal warned "that guy carries bad grudges with a temper'.

"I'm not afraid" Cole said "neither is Starr".

"Did she tell you that herself?"

"No but we both agreed that we were not going to let Todd destroy our lives".

Aaron paused for a long time finally he said "okay I understand, you can leave tomorrow".

"That soon?"

He smiled 'I'm sure Derek can run things around here for a couple of weeks or so".

Cole stood up "thank- you Aaron so much I promise to train the Lacrosse and Soccer teams very well when I come back".

Aaron placed an arm on his shoulder "no need for that son" he said " just make sure Todd Manning does not hurt you or your family".

Cole nodded "I will". He walked out of the office into a corner and dialed a number on his cell-phone".

At Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow

Starr was reading a group of kids a story when a ringing sound occured in her bag. Quickly she handed the book to another staff member and ran to get it.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's me".

She smiled making her way into the kitchen "wow that was quick".

Misty came in behind her "Starr is that Cole?"

She nodded "Cole hold on one second" she said taking the phone away from her ear and placing it on the kitchen table on speaker.

"Hi Cole" Misty said to the phone "how's our favorite coach doing".

Cole laughed on the othe line "fine Misty".

"So how did your talk with the principal go?" Starr asked.

"It went great" her husband answered "he said we could leave tomorrow".

Starr blinked turning to Misty 'is that too soon?"

"Not at all" Misty said "honey, there is a pretty big staff here so one member going away for two weeks won't change it".

"Okay" starr said facing the phone "you hear that Cole?

"Yes I did" he replied "I'll be home as soon as soccer practice is over after 4:00 pm''.

"See you then bye".

"Bye"

Bye Cole"

Bye Misty".

As soon as he was off the line Starr put the phone back in her bag "we'll I'd better finish the last of my work''.

Misty nodded "I'll be in the library".

Before her friend followed Starr looked out the window to notice that the morning sun had come up floating in the light blue sky that today was covered in puffy white clouds. "It's okay everyone Langston, Dorian, Jack, Sam, Mom" she said to herself "we are coming back'.


	8. Chapter 8

**No one can tear us apart**

" We're home!" Dorian called out as her and Langston stepped in. For the past three years Dorian had not really aged that much with only a few more wrinkles on her face. She wore a cream blouse with black dress pants. Her foster daughter Langston had growed into a tall slim young adult, she wore a yellow t-shirt with blue jeans and her long brown hair stood behind her back. Both of them were carrying shopping bags.

Blair came down.

Dorian smiled " hi Blair darling".

"Hello" Langston said.

Blair turned to her "how was the shopping?"

"It was fun" Langston smiled "where is Sam?"

"He's in his room" Blair replied "do you mind going upstairs with him? He needs someone to play with since Jack is not here".

"Of course" Langston said "I'll just leave my bags in my room". She smiled again as she ran up the stairs.

When she left Dorian walked into the living- room taking out stuff from her bag and laying it on the couch "as you know the Llanview Masquerade is coming up so Langston and I went out and bought the dresses"

Dorian took out a gorgeous black dress with puffy sleaves "This one is mine" she said proudly holding it up "it must have been the last one there at least that's what the store clerk said".

Blair took a seat on the couch and rolled her eyes "probably just trying to sell it to you faster" she mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing".

Dorina shrugged and grabbed the other bag, she took out a dark blue halter top stlyed dress "and this one is yours" she said handing it to her "you wanted something plain and simple".

As she held it Blair could not help but feel amazed admiring the colour and how the way the dress fit perfectly together. Then she quickly remembered Todd and put the dress carefully back in the bag "this is a very nice dress Dorian but I'm not going" she shoved it aside.

"What!" Dorian exclaimed "Blair what do you mean you're not going?"

"I mean I'm not" Blair said "I don't think there is a purpose for me to go".

"But we've been looking forward to this for months" Dorian said, she paused for a moment "honey I know taking Todd there will be horrible considering the way he has been acting but..."

"He's not coming with me" Blair interuppted turning away.

"What?"

"We got divorced ".

"What happened?"

It took Blair a moment to explain to her aunt what had happened earlier.

"Jerk" Dorian snarled "he thinks he can help this family by wasting time at work and getting drunk".

"That's how it's been" Blair added "he either works late and comes home without saying a word or comes home early straight from the bar".

"I know" Dorian nodded "it's been like that ever since..." she stopped in her sentence.

Knowing what she meant Blair hung her head "it's all my fault that Starr's gone".

"No honey" Dorian assured her "it isn't".

"Yes it was" She insisted "if I had just divorced Todd in the first place and let Starr see Cole she would have never run away".

"Do you beilieve Cole raped her?"

"I did before but now that I think about it I'm not sure, I have a feeling she ran away because of something else".

"Well" Dorian said changing the subject "if Starr was here she would want you to go".

Blair tapped her fingers on her seat "I still don't know".

"C'mon Blair" Dorian urged "if you don't go you're showing Todd how weak you are without him".

"But who am I supossed to take with me?"

Dorian smiled "Addie told me what happend between you and John McBain this morning so I was thinking..."

"Oh Dorian" Blair groaned "don't you and Mama get any ideas about trying to set me up with John okay".

"But he brought you flowers, surely that means something".

"You know what fine I'll go to the Maquerade " Blair said giving in "but I'll find a date by myself so both you and Mama stay out of it".

"Whatever you say" Dorian smiled "it just pleases me that you are going".

Blair shook her head taking the bag "I'll be outside". She went upstairs put the dress in her closet and changed into her swim-suit. Carrying her towel she walked to the pool setting it down on one of her chairs and stepped in. It felt good as she swam into the cold water as her hair stuck to her back. After half an hour of doing laps around the pool and relaxing Blair stepped out dripping wet. She sat on a lawn chair lying down on the fleece white towel. She put on her second batch of sun screen and rested her head. This turned out to be nice she thought but how am I supossed to tell the kids about me and Todd's divorce. Well, I'm sure Jack will understand since he too has been noticing his father's behavior. Then a question appeared in her mind- did she really miss Todd. After all they have been through alll these years a part of her still loved him but that was the sweet, caring and loving Todd she knew. Now he was acting just like he did in college, a horrible man with no heart what so ever. Blair forced the thoughts away as she drifted to sleep.

_Dream_

_The tall blonde haired woman is sitting at her balcony wearing the blue dress with a round blue mask in her hand. She hears a noise behind her, she quickly puts the mask to her face and turns around. A man wearing a black tuexdo with a black mask comes in front of her wearing a black cape behind him. _

_Blair shudders but asks "who are you?"_

_The man comes forward "I think you already know"._

_Blair looks puzzled "I do"._

_He holds out his hand._

_She accepts._

_The two soon join hands and dance a lovely waltz in the middle of the balcony. The dance and the music are beautiful as they continue not taking their eyes off each other. Blair soon realises what she is doing and stops._

_"What is the matter?" the man says._

_"I have to know who you are?" she says._

_The man smiles "okay but first i have to give you something" he closes his eyes and kisses her lips gently. She kisses back wrapping her arms around him, when it's over she runs her fingers on the mask and takes it off. _

_She gasps seeing his face "John?"_

_He continues to stare at her. _

Suddenly Blair felt someone shaking her arm "Blair wake-up" a voice said.

Blair opened her eyes "Langston what is it?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you" she said " but Todd's lawyer just called and they want you to meet at the court house to sign the divorce papers".

Wow Blair thought he wants me to sign them so soon the Todd I know if definatly gone. "Okay" she said standing up "just let me get changed first then I'll be there".

Langston nodded "I'll tell Dorian".

After she got dressed Blair hopped in her car and drove to the court house. It took a while as her and Todd met up with their lawyers and signed the divorce papers. As he did this her ex-husband seemed to show off a smirk which she hated all the way. Todd did ask if Sam were to come with him but the judge ruled since Sam was fine living with Blair the child would remain there.

When Blair walked out of the court house on the sidewalk Todd came up form behind her "this isn't over" he sneered " I will get both of my boys back.

She snorted "is that really a threat Todd?"

"No" he said grabbing her arm and squeezing it "but this is".

"Ow!" she exclaimed "what are you doing?"

"Hands off her Manning" a voice said. Blair turned to see John standing right behind her.

"Well, well well, " Todd smirked " you always have to be the hero off the day".

"Get your hands off her" John said in a serious tone "before I arrest you for assult".

Todd let go and walked away "so officer are you going to this Masquerade I'm sure they need body guards there" he turned back to Blair "my new date and I will be tearing down the house".

"Actually" John said "I came to aske Blair if she would like to be my date to the Masquerade?"

Blair was shocked by this question but she stepped in front of Todd smiling "I'd love too".

They both turned back to Todd waiting for his reaction. He just smirked "you too have a nice night" he said walking away.

"Thank- you for the help" Blair said to John "but was that a real question or were you just trying to get to Todd?"

"Oh it was real" he said "was that a real answer".

She smiled "yes it was".

"Good" John said "c'mon I'll walk you to your car".

_note: I made this chapter long since I was late updating thank-you to everybody who has read and reviewed. _


	9. Chapter 9

No one can tear us apart

_The next day_

Starr began flipping through pages of the map. Two hours ago her and Cole packed up their things, said good-bye to all their friends and were on the road travelling to Llanview. Nicole was in her car seat playing with her favorite barbie doll.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" Starr asked.

Cole nodded "the ticket booth is coming up so we will have to travel another three hours to get to Llanview".

Starr put the map in the glove compartment and shut it.

Cole glanced at her "don't be nervous Starr" he said.

"What makes you think I'm nervous?"

"You're legs are trembling".

She glanced down "Yeah I guess I am".

"If it makes you feel any better" he said "I'm a little nervous too".

"Really?"

"Of course" Cole said "I mean I haven't seen Markko, Nora and Matthew in awhile and I'm going to have to explain to them why we ran away".

"So we'll tell them about Nicole".

"We have to Starr, it can no longer be the secret we've been hiding".

She nodded knowing that he was right.

Then a wimpering sound came from the back seat. Starr turned around, Nicole was leaning over trying to reach her doll that dropped on the floor but her seat belt held her back. Starr reached over picking it up and handed to her daughter who wordlessly began playing with it again. The car stopped shortly when the ticket booth came into view a man who looked a little older than Aaron punched in some numbers in his cash register as Cole handed him some money. Just as the man was handing him his receipt he looked at the back seat.

"Aren't you kids a little young to be parents?" he asked.

"Aren't you a little old to be working at a booth!" Cole snapped as he grabbed the paper and rolled up his window. The man shruggged and pressed a button allowing the car to get past.

"What an idiot" Cole muttered under his breath as he continued to drive.

Starr turned back around looking at her daughter again. Nicole finally put her doll down and was looking out the window now.

She turned to Cole "arewhere are we going to stop for lunch?"

"Yeah" he replied calming down "I know this good sea food restaurant that should be coming up soon".

After they ate Starr and Cole decided to switch places with the driving so Starr drove for the next three hours. Finally a park came up that she reconized right away from her childhood telling them that they were back in Llanview. She parked the car to a parking lot where they could get a good view of the park. Kids were running around playing in the sandbox, climbing up the monkey bars, sliding down the slids while their parents wew either pushing them on the swings or sitting on a bench watching.

Cole held Starr's hand leaning it away from the steering-wheel "well this is it" he said "we're here".

She beamed at him still looking at the sight. There was a moment of silence as Starr and Cole stood still remembering the place that they left for three years (Nicole had fallen asleep since it was past her nap-time.)

"Not much has changed" Cole said breaking the silence "so who do you want to go see first?"

She looked at him "how about Markko?"

"Markko?" he said surprised " I thought you wanted to see your mom".

"That's what I thought too" she said "but I'm still not ready to confront her yet at least not now".

"Well all right Markko's it is".

_At Marrko's house_

Markko sat on the couch watching a movie with Langston as she rested her head on his lap.

"So Mr. Manning dumped Starr's mom?" he asked.

"It's Blair now" she reminded him "and yes he did". She paused "I never thought he was a big jerk like Dorian said he was, with three great kids like his you would have never guessed".

"Yeah" Markko nodded, he pulled her closer towards him "so are you still going to that Masquerade?"

She smiled "you know I wouldn't miss it for a thing".

"What does your dress look like?"

"Hey I'm not telling, I want it to be a surprise".

He smirked moving her "c'mon".

"No!" she laughed.

"Please" he said giving her puppy- dog-eyes but she ignored it causing him to give up "it was worth a try" he shrugged.

_Ding- dong!_

The both stood up.

Markko scratched his head "my parents told me the party wasn't over until midnight". He ran to the hallway and switched open the lights. Langston followed. Markko unlocked the front door and opened it. He gasped, there were his friends that he hadn't seen in three years smiling at him. Starr stood in front holding a black bag while Cole carried a sleeping toddler around his shoulders.

"Starr!" Markko exclaimed grabbing her into a hug "Cole!" he shouted giving him one as well .

When it was over, Langston came up in shock "Starr? Cole is that really you?"

Her friends nodded "every last bit of us Langston" Starr said.

Langston smiled "Oh you guys!" she yelled hugging them. The reunion was so emotional that both the girls started crying.

"We've missed you so much" Langston said through tears "we've been wondering when you guys have been wanting to come back".

Markko nodded turning to Cole "Llanview hasn't been the same without you man". He then noticed the little girl still asleep in Cole's arms "oh my gosh" he said "is that?"

Starr wiped her eyes and nodded stepping in front of her husband "this is our two-year-old daughter Nicole".

Their friends stared at her.

"She's so beautiful" Langston commented.

"Yeah" Markko agreed "just like her mother".

Starr smiled "yeah but she acts like Cole".

"Well come on in" Markko said leading them in "Langston and I were just chilling while my folks were out".

When they were in the living-room Cole gently placed Nicole on the couch with a blanket while the four friends sat at the table in the dining-room eating potato chips, drinking sodas and catching up on what they missed out on.


	10. Chapter 10

No one can tear us apart

_The same day_

_4:15 pm_

"Oh great how am I going to tell them" Blair began pacing back and forth in front of the outside table near the pool while Addie and Dorian sat on the chairs reading magazines. Blair was trying to figure out how to tell Jack and Sam that their parents were getting a divorce and their dad would not be living with them anymore.

"Just tell them their father is jerk" Dorian suggested "and he does not deserve a young beautiful attractive woman like you".

"Oh thanks Dorian" Blair mumbled finally sitting down "I'm sure Jack will understand but how am I going to say that there is a posssibility of the judge taking Sam away from us?"

"Darling he would never do that" Addie pointed out "he knows that little boy is happy living here".

"And if he does" Dorian said, anger beaming in her eyes "we'll give him some tough girl Cramer talk he'll never forget".

Blair looked over to Addie who smiled.

She sighed "look I approciate you guys helping me" she stood up "but this is just between me and the boys".

"What is?" a voice said form behind.

The ladies turned around and saw Jack and Sam in their swims-suits ready to go in the pool carrying thier towels.

"Oh hey you too" Blair smiled "ready for a dip in the pool?"

"What were you going to say mommy?" Sam asked.

_See he calls me mommy _Blair thought _and Todd wants to take him away. _

She turned back to her mother and aunt "can you guys give us some alone time please".

"Of course dear" Addie said as her and Dorian walked inside the house.

Jack and Sam put their towels aside sitting on chairs, Blair sat in front of them under the umbrella in the shade.

"Well there is something I have to tell the both of you" she said.

"Where's dad?" Jack said "shouldn't he be in this conversation as well?"

Blair ran her fingers throught his wavy blonde hair "that's what I want to talk with you about" she took a deep breath "your father and I are getting a divorce".

There was a moment of silence.

"Oh okay mom" Jack said calmly.

"Yeah okay" Sam agreed.

Their mother was shocked "you guys are fine with this I mean I understand you would Jack but..."

"Hey we're not blind" Jack interuppted "all of us know how dad has been acting".

Sam nodded "and it's not very nice right mommy?"

Blair smiled at the five-year-old "right Sam". A frown came across her face as she sat down.

Jack noticed "Sam go in without me I'm going to talk to mom for a second".

"Okay Jack" Sam said as he walked to the pool and jumped in wearing his water wings.

"You okay mom?" Jack said "do you miss dad yourself?"

"No Jack" she replied "like everyone else I hated his mean behaviour but.."

"But what?"

"Well as you know since Sam is not my birth child there is a possibility of the judge taking him away to live at your dad's place".

"Oh c'mon mom" Jack said "the judge has to be pretty stupid to let dad take Sam I mean he knows Sam loves it here and plus with dad's behaviour I'm sure he won't get his hands on any child".

Blair smiled "you're right honey thanks".

Jack smiled back "no problem mom" he left and joined his brother in the pool.

The woman watched her children for a moment until Dorian came out "so did you tell them?"

"Yes and they took it really well actually".

"That's wonderful" she beamed "now they can get used to the new boyfriend".

Blair turned to her with a confused look "what boyfriend?"

"John McBain of course".

She sighed heavily "just because he asked me to the Masquerade, it does not make him the new man of the family".

"Well I think it's a sign" Dorian insisted " he must have adored you to ask".

"Maybe he couldn't find anybody else" Blair said "and this is just one thing, that does not make him my partner for life".

"Okay you can keep telling yourself that" Dorian shrugged.

Her niece sighed getting tired of his agrument "where's Langston?"

"Oh she's at Marrko's house" Dorian said "I just called her a couple of minutes ago, she seemed really urgent to get off the phone for some reason".

"I wonder why" Blair said but the thoughts were forced away when there was the sound of a knock at the front door.

She groaned "probably Todd's lawyer, I'll get it". She walked away leaving her aunt and sons in the backyard. There was a second knock before she opened it "John" she said "hi".

"Hello" he said "how are you?"

"Fine come in".

When he stepped in Addie cam up "Lieutenant" she greeted "how nice of you to drop by again".

"The pleasure is all mine Mrs. Cramer" he said with a small smile.

Addie placed an arm around her daughter's shoulders "Blair looks lovely today doesn't she?"

"Yes she does''.

Blair blushed wiggling away fron her mother's grasp "so what brings you here".

"I was just wondering if you would like to have dinner with me" he said " I know it's last minute but I think we should get to know each other better since we are going to the Masquerade together".

Blair smiled "sure" then she turned to her mother "mama can you?"

"Don't worry dear" her mother assured her "I'll watch the boys you go have a good time" she paused and handed her, her purse.

Before she followed John to the car Blair turned back to her mother "maybe I should change" she said looking at her plain red top and jeans "I mean..."

"Nonsense dear, now go".

"Okay" Blair nodded as she followed John into his car.

**Message: Here's the following chapter, thanks again to everyone who has read my story Happy Holidays.**


	11. Chapter 11

**No one can tear us apart**

_Same day_

"So the marriage between my parents is over for sure this time?" Starr asked her best friends who sadly nodded. It had been an hour and Langson and Markko were keeping them updating on the people they missed.

"Sorry Starr" Markko said "but ever since you left your dad became a huge mess".

"He'd come home drunk everyday" Langston added ''I guess your mom was getting tired of it and your dad had no problem leaving".

"Well I shouldn't be surprised" Starr said " I mean my dad went through a change ever since me and Cole got together and he went through a bigger change ever since we left but still, my mom didn't deserve that".

Cole placed an arm around her "Hey don't worry about it, your mom is better off without him".

"Yeah he's right" Markko agreed "your dad is the trash around here not your mom".

Starr nodded turning to Langston "what about Jack and Sam?"

"Oh they're growing up pretty well" Langston smiled "Jack has turned into a very handsome, smart, and loving boy and so is Sam".

"Does Sam remember me?" Starr said remembering that her brother was very young when she left.

"When he turned five he had dreams about you" Langston said "he asked Blair who the girl was and she told him that you were his sister and you went to college out of Llanview".

"What about Matthew and Nora?" Cole said.

"They're fine" Markko replied "Matthew is doing his best in High School and Nora helps the Buchananes run the bussiness" he paused before adding "but they sure do miss you Cole, when you left Nora isloated herself in their house for weeks."

Cole hung his head "I didn't mean for her to be so upset..."

"No worries man" Markko assured him "I'm sure once you explain everything she'll understand".

"Wait" Starr said "what about Jessica and aunt Viki? Did Jessica have her baby?"

Langston and Markko looked at each other.

Langston frowned "Actually, her baby girl died because she was premature".

Starr covered her mouth "oh my gosh! What happened?"

"Well after Nash's funeral that other personalitly Tess came back out" Langston explained "she spend too much time plotting revenge against Natalie and Jared that she missed a lot of her doctor appointments".

"Jessica must have been devastated".

"Heartbroken, but after she checked in a clinic and got the help she needed".

"Yeah" Markko said "now she more focused on spending the rest of her life taking care of Bree".

A yawn was heard, everyone looked at the couch to see that Nicole had woken up. She glanced with a worried face not recognising her location. Then she spotted her parents and flung across the room into her mother's arms whimpering softly.

"Nicole honey" Starr said placing her on her lap "did you have a good sleep?"

Nicole nodded as she looked to Langston and Markko with a blank expression on her face.

Starr noticed "Niki these are me and daddy's best friends Langston and Markko".

"Hello Nicole" Langston said coming closer to her "it's very nice to meet you".

"Hey Niki" Markko smiled holding out his hand "how do you do?"

Nicole looked at the hand for a moment then slapped it.

"Ow!" Markko exclaimed pretending to be hurt "you're tough".

The toddler clapped her hands and giggled causing all the adults to smile.

"She looks a little bored" Langston said turning to her boyfriend "do you have any toys she could play with?"

"I have my old building blocks in the closet" he replied getting up "I'll get them".

While Nicole played on the floor with Langston Starr and Cole decided to tell Markko how they're life had been for the last couple of years.

"Cole and I got great jobs" Starr explained "I got a job at a daycare center and Cole worked at a HighSchool coaching the lacrosse and soccer teams".

"Sweet" Markko commented "but how did you manage?"

"Well we were determined to finish school so we were homeschooled" Cole told him "after Starr had Nicole I was the only one working for a while".

"Until Nicole was six months old" Starr said "the head lady of the Daycare center Misty got me a job". She paused before adding "I remember it so well".

_Flashback_

_Starr is carrying baby Nicole with a diaper bag waiting outside the restaurant Cole works at._

_"Daddy should be finished soon" she tells her baby who begins to touch her mother's face._

_"Excuse me" a woman with black hair says as she passes Starr but stops to look at the baby._

_"Oh isn't she adorable" the woman smiles "your a very lucky girl"._

_"Thank- you" Starr says "I'm just waiting for my husband, he works here"._

_"Do you work?"_

_"No but I ought to, I just have trouble juggling my schoolwork with taking care of my baby''._

_The woman runs her fingers throught her hair "what's your name?"_

_"Starr Thornhart"_

_"How old are you?"_

_"Seventeen"_

_"Well Starr" the woman says "how would you like to get a part time job working at the Daycare I own"._

_Starr's eyes light up "really?"_

_"Of course" the woman smiles "it's called Pot of Gold at the End of the Rainbow and it's a few blocks from here". She pauses before adding "it pays very well and we have a huge staff so while you work one of them can take care of Nicole so you and your husband could have some help"._

_"Oh my gosh thank- you so much!" Starr exclaims giving her a hug "what's your name?"_

_"Misty Zwipe" the woman says shaking her hand "so will you come by tomorrow to fill out an application?"_

_"I will thanks so much again"._

_Misty smiles and enters the restaurant._

_Cole comes out, seeing his wife he walks over to her and kisses her._

_"Sorry I'm late" he says then notices the excitment on her face "what's wrong?"_

_Starr quickly explains._

_Cole smiles "that's great" he then takes in daughter in his arms "Niki will make a lot of friends when she gets older"._

_The smile on his wife's face does not vanish as they make their way to the car._

"Wow she seems really nice" Langston smiled as she and Nicole made a tower with the blocks.

"Yeah" Markko agreed whisphering to Cole "is she married?"

"I heard that Markko!" Langston shouted.

"Hey I'm only kidding!"

Langston shook her head and turned to Starr "have you spoken to your mom yet?"

"No" Starr frowned "only you guys but I don't think I'm ready to face her yet".

"Well you can take as much time as you want" Cole said "even I don't know how we're going to present ourselves".

"Wait a minute" Markko said "I you guys could present yourselves at that big Masquerade".

"What?" Cole asked.

"It's a masked ball" Langston explained "it's coming up next saturday and everybody will be there".

Markko nodded "you'll be wearing masks so nobody will recognise you and at a certain time you guys can present yourselves".

Starr tapped her chin with her fingers "well I think that will be fun".

"Yeah I think so too'' Cole agreed.

"But what am I going to wear?" she asked.

"We can go shopping tomorrow" Langston suggested "well have lunch and go to a couple of dress stores and pick one out".

"Okay" Starr smiled "that would be great''. She looked at the clock that hung above the table "are you guys doing anything special for dinner?"

"No" Markko replied "I was going to have just Langston over but since you guys are her why don't we have dinner together?"

"I think that's a great idea" Cole said smiling.

An hour later the four were busy making steaks with dresses salad and boiled potatoes. Starr and Langston made the potaotes and salad while Cole grilled the steaks. Markko set up the table and played with Nicole since she did not enjoy being lonely. After dinner was over they washed and dried the dishes and had dessert which were cookies and coffee. It was 7:45 pm when Starr and Cole decided it was getting late.

"We'd better go" Starr said picking up Nicole.

"Oh your'e leaving so soon" Markko groaned.

"It's almost Nicole's bedtime" Cole told him "beside we'll see you again tomorrow".

"That's right" Langston said giving Starr a hug "see ya tomorrow".

She gave one to Cole as well and so did Markko to them both.

"We're really glad you guys came back" he said "see ya around".

"Bye" the couple said heading to their car.

"Bye Nicole!" Langston shouted.

Nicole waved still in her mother's arms.

When Cole was driving back on the road he asked "so where too next?"

"Aunt Viki's place" Starr said "please I have to know how Jessica is doing".

Soon they were there this time Starr carried her daughter while Cole took the diaper bag.

Starr raised her free hand to the door and knocked.

"Who is it?" a voice said.

"Uh it's me" Starr answered "aunt Viki?"

Viki opened the door, her eyes were widen with shock.

"Starr!" she yelled embracing her niece "oh Starr!"

"Aunt Viki please don't cry" Starr said feeling her own eyes leak "I've already had enough crying for today".

Viki smiled wiping her eyes "I'm sorry". She was too excited to see her niece again that she did not notice the little girl in her arms.

"And Cole" she said giving him a hug "I'm glad that you're safe as well".

"Thank- you Mrs. Davidson" Cole smiled "is Jessica here?"

"No I'm afraid not" Viki replied "Sara took her shopping for a dress for the big event that's happening and she wanted to take Bree with her".

She looked at Starr and finally noticed.

"Oh my!" she exclaimed giving a small smile to the little girl "who's this?"

"This is our daughter Nicole" Starr said rocking her a little.

"Daughter?"

"Yes can we please come in?"

"Of course" Viki nodded.

Starr and Cole sat on a couch with Nicole while Viki sat in a chair in front of them.

She kept staring at the little girl "so how old is she?"

"Two years old" Cole said.

Viki clapped a hand to her cheek "is that why you ran away?"

Starr nodded "I'm really sorry aunt Viki but my dad was too controling and I didn't want to get you involved because you were too busy helping Jessica deal with Nash's death''.

"Does your mother know?"

"No and we'd appreciate it if you didn't tell her for now".

Viki paused "okay Starr, I know the way my brother treated you and Cole was terrible and I know you couldn't talk with anybody about this so I will keep your secret".

"Thanks" Starr said "I own you one".

Her aunt smiled back "I'm just happy that all of you are safe and sound". She looked at their child again "mind if I hold her?"

"No go ahead" Starr said handing the toddler to her.

Viki held Nicole tightly and walked aroung with her "hello there Nicole, I'm your aunt".

Nicole blinked but felt a warm feeling aroung the adult and stayed calm.

"You look so much like your mother" Viki added "and your father too".

Starr and Cole smiled.

"So where will the both of you be staying?" Viki asked.

"Well we were thinking about staying in a nearby hotel" Cole said.

"Nonesense" Viki said "I have one of the carriage houses opened ao all of you could stay in there".

"Really?" Cole said "okay that'd be great".

Starr pointed to her daughter who buried her face in Viki's shoulder "besides I think that's what Nicole wants".

**Note: In case people get confused I made it so that Starr and Cole ran away days after Nash died. **

**for this chapter being a little long I just wanted them to meet Viki soon since I want to get stared on writing the big event that's going to happen.**


	12. Chapter 12

**No one can tear us apart **

The dinner Blair had with John McBain went very well and much to her surprise they had gotten very close for the past couple of days and developed a dating relationship. Looks like her mother and aunt were right all along huh? As for Starr, Nichole, and Cole Thornhart, they continued to stay at Viki's house and didn't leave the house(the only time Starr left was when her and Langston went out shopping for a dress.) Starr was reunited with her cousin Jessica who was overjoyed to see her and Starr told her her sorrows about the premature baby and also apoligised that she could not attend the furneral. Jessica simply told not to worry about it and like her mother she was also shocked to know about Nichole but promised not to tell. Learning from Jessica Starr had heard that Natalie and Jared had gotten engaged and moved out since Jessica needed some time alone with her child but they would be at the Masquerade. Luckily nobody from Starr's family came to Viki's house since Dorian had Blair and Langston spend so much time helping her with the big Llanview event.

_One Week later_

It was the day of the Masquerade ball. Starr had been thinking about this day for a long time becauses it was the day that her and Cole would finally show themselves to the whole community of Llanview. Starr bit her nail looking in the mirror, she had her long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore the dark pink strapless dress that Langston and her had picked out with diamond pink earrings to match, the star necklace, and pink high heels. Starr reached on top of her dresser and pulled out the lavender perfume spraying it on her neck and wrists. When that was finished she put it back and looked at herself again. With the whole outfit and the make-up Jessica helped her with she looked very lovely but would her mother look beyond her appearance and get extremly upset with her. Starr couldn't help but wonder, what if her mother hated her after she saw her, what if she became so upset that she decided to team up with her father and take her family down_. Maybe we shouldn't go tonight_ Starr thought _I could always wait another couple of years to tell her_. Then she shook herself_, what am I saying? We have to go tonight this is the reason I decided to come back to Llanview, to tell my mother about Nichole and not wanting to hid for the rest of my life_.

A knock was heard

Cole opened the door wearing a black tuexdo with his brown hair combed neatly back, a golden watch, and a black tie to match. "Starr" he said his eyes lighting up "you look beautiful".

"Thanks'' she smiled walking over to him wrapping her arms around his neck "you do too".

"So are you ready for tonight?" he asked.

"Well to be honest I was a little nervous" Starr said "but now knowing that we have to get this out of the blue and that you're going to be with me the whole time I'm not anymore".

Cole gently kissed her cheek "the whole time" he proclaimed "I'll never leave your site" he paused before adding "unless you have to go to the bathroom because I'm sure all the ladies would..."

Starr laughed as she interuppted his speech with a kiss.

They went downstairs where Nichole was playing dolls with Bree. The couple smiled at the little brown-haired girl with big brown eyes playing with their daughter. Nichole looked at her parents and gasped "Mommy, Daddy pwetty".

Starr smiled "thank-you Nichole, we have to leave soon so you be a good girl for Lois okay?"

Her daughter nodded.

Then Jessica came in wearing a lilac spagetti-strap styled dress with her blonde hair let down in curls. She had silver earrings and shoes but no necklace. "You guys look wonderful" she said.

"Thanks Jess" Cole replied "so do you".

"Mommy looks pretty too" Bree said jumping up.

Jessica smiled before turning back to her cousin "Lois is in the kitchen and the limo mom ordered for us had just arrived".

"Great" Starr said "wait Jessica if you don't mind me asking, do you have a date for the ball".

''Yes actually" she said "Brody is taking me".

"You mean that guy from the Navy who pretended to be Shane's father?"

"Yeah, but he's changed and made peace with Gigi and Rex and we have become really close since we both went to St. Ann's together".

"Well I'm glad to hear that".

"Oh before I forget" Jessica reached into her purse pulling out three masks. One was shaped round in the colour black and the other two were shaped liked a butterfly in the colours lilac and pink.

"This one's for you Cole" she said handing the black one to him "and this one is for you Starr" she handed the pink one to her "the last one is for me".

Starr nodded turning to her daughter "okay Niki we have to go now, we'll see you tommorrow morning okay".

"K mommy" Nichole said giving her mother a hug then her father.

"See you later princess" he whisphered to her.

Nichole beamed at that new nickname.

After she had given her own mother a hug as well as Starr and Cole Bree took Nichole's hand "c'mon Nichole let's take my dolls upstairs, I have a big toy castle we could play with".

Nichole nodded as Bree led her out of the room "bye Jessica".

"Good-bye Nichole" Jessica waved "well we better get going soon but I have one question".

"What is it?" Starr asked as she and her husband slipped their masks on.

"Does anybody else besides me and my mom know about you guys?"

Cole nodded "only Markko and Langston".

Just then Brody came in wearing a black tuexdo much like Cole but instead he had a red tie with a round red mask.

"Hi Jessica'' he said giving her a hug "you look amazing".

He noticed the young couple "who are your friends?"

Jessica looked at them "Uh well this is my..."

"I'm her cousin" Starr interuppted shaking his hand "my name is Starr Thornhart and this is my husband Cole".

"It's nice to meet you" Brody said as he shook Cole's hand as well. He did not have any suspicion about them since he had not known about Starr's dissapearance "should we go in the limo now?"

"Of course" Jessica took his hand "let's go".

The four walked outside into the limo where Viki was waiting for them. She wore a normal emerald green dress with her hair her normal style and green earrings with silver shoes and a golden bracelet- she also had a green mask in her hand shaped like a butterfly.

"Where's Charlie?" Jessica asked stepping into the limo with Brody.

"He is going to meet us there" Viki explained following her "he is also driving Natalie and Jared".

Cole was the last one that stepped in as he shut the door "okay we are all in here!" he called to the driver who began stepping on the brakes.

The five looked out the window and saw Lois waving as she closed the front door and locked it.

Starr shivered a little as she wrapped her jacket around her shoulders and stared into the glowing lights in the limo.

While Brody was having a conversation with Jessica and Viki Cole and Starr looked out the window seeing the beautiful sights of Llanview.

Finally the limo came to a stop at a big hall, people rushed in wearing very formal clothing.

Jessica and Brody were the ones to get out first followed by Viki, Starr, then Cole.

"Wow" Starr said looking outside the great big hall filled with yellow lights. She then grabbed Cole's arm nudging closer to him "well this is it".

He nodded "you ready?"

"Whenever you are" she said as the five of them walked inside.


	13. Chapter 13

No one can tear us apart

The big hall was filled with tables where all the guests would be seated including the head table. Glowing lights filled the room placing big yellow circles on the dance floor in the middle of the hall and near the banquet table. Plain sheets of white ribbon were hung around the ceiling like an arch and there was also a disco ball.

"This is a nice place" Starr commented taking off her jacket.

"Yeah" Cole agreed, "Dorian did a great job".

Starr turned to Jessica "where are we seated at?"

"You guys are with us," Jessica said pointing to a table in the far corner as they hurried towards it.

Blair walked in the room wearing the dark blue dress holding her mask in her hands. John was beside her wearing a black tuxedo and black mask. Langston and Markko came in after them, he finally got to see Langston's normal burgundy coloured dress that looked great with her hair let down straight and her black earrings and shoes with an oval shaped black necklace. He on the other hand, had a normal tuxedo much like the one Cole had.

Blair pushed her hair behind her ears revealing her sapphire earrings "everything looks great".

John nodded turning to Langston "you guys did a great job with this" he commented but neither her nor Markko seemed to hear it as they were too busy looking around the hall.

"Langston?" John said snapping them out of their thoughts.

"Oh thank-you Mr. McBain" Langston said "it's just..."

"We're looking for some people" Markko butted in.

"Really?" Blair said ''who?"

They both looked at each other.

"Well uh... a couple of friends of ours" Langston said.

"Yeah'' Markko agreed, "We go way back from childhood". He shut his mouth and gulped realizing he might have mad a mistake. Before he could say anything else Langston took his arm "c'mon let's go find Dorian".

As they left she whispered to him "are you trying to expose Starr and Cole?"

"Hey, you know I'm not good at keeping secrets".

"I wonder what that was about?" John asked.

"It's probably nothing" Blair guessed smiling a little "maybe Markko is a little scared sitting at the head table with Dorian tonight".

Her thoughts were taken if the topic because her ex-husband walked in with his date. Todd wore a dark brown tuxedo and his date was a younger looking woman with black hair and dark brown eyes who wore a brown dress.

"Hello Blair" Todd sneered walking up to her.

"Hello Todd" Blair said through gritted teeth "I see you've brought a date".

''Ah yes" Todd smirked taking the woman's hand "this is Victoria, we've been working together for the past couple of years".

"He's really nice" Victoria said smirking at Todd "just five minutes ago he told me I was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his entire life".

"Really?" Blair said "has Todd told you about the kids that he never sees anymore because of his drinking?"

''Blair why don't we go to our table now" John suggested begging her not to start a fight "it's almost starting soon".

"Sure" she agreed before facing Todd and Victoria "see you later".

When they left Victoria bit her lip "I think you've got some competition tonight" she told Todd.

He rolled his eyes "c'mon" he said dragging her to their table.

Langston and Markko met Dorian while she was sitting next to the speech table with a microphone.

"Hello you two" she said smiling "okay I'm going to present the first speech in five minutes and after a couple of dances have been played I need you Langston to give the second"

"Okay'' Langston nodded as Dorian handed her a slip of paper, then pulled Markko to the side when it was just them.

"Hey I think I know how our friends can present themselves".

"How?"

"During the second speech I'll pretend to get a headache and Starr and Cole can take over".

Markko ran his fingers through his hair "you really think that will work?"

"It has too" Langston nodded "I'm sure Dorian won't mind if they volunteer".

"Okay" Markko said "should we go find them?"

"Well I've got to stay and help Dorian" Langston said giving him the slip of paper "but they are at that table in the corner so can you?''

"Sure".

"Hey do you guys want anything to drink?" Brody asked, "I'm heading to the bar?"

"I'll just have a coke to start with please?" Starr said.

"Same here" Cole nodded.

"Here I'll go with you" Jessica said following him.

Viki took a sip of wine from her glass "are the both of you all right so far?"

"Yes" Cole replied, "we're fine".

Markko walked in front of their table "hey guys" he smiled "Mrs. Davidson".

"Hello there Markko" Viki said "having a good evening so far?"

"The best" he boasted "can I please talk with this couple alone for a while?"

"Of course" Viki said leaving the table "Charlie has arrived anyway".

"What's up?" Starr asked as Markko took a seat beside her.

He quickly explained the plan and handed her the slip of paper.

"It sounds good" Cole said, "I'm sure it will work".

Starr nodded "Yeah, I think so too".

Markko checked his watch "okay dinner will be right away" he explained, "At 12:00 am that is the time the second speech should be at".

"Well at least we still have a lot of time to enjoy the rest of the masked ball" Cole concluded.

When the rest of the guests came in and took their seats the Masquerade began. Natalie, and Jared stood at a table next to the one where Starr and Cole were seated at while Charlie sat at the same table. He wondered who the two strangers were sitting beside them but Viki just introduced them as friends, she would of course eventually tell him later but now was not the best time.

"Welcome everyone to the Llanview Masquerade" Dorian said at the speech table "I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff for helping out with the set up and note that this party will last until 1:00 am but for now I hope everyone enjoys the banquet table and the certain types of dances the music plays thank-you". Everyone clapped as she left and headed back to her seat.

For the next few hours Starr and Cole enjoyed the delicious servings of food and talked with their family members but kept their masks on. At the head table Langston and Markko kept a good eye on Blair or John making sure they would not head to the table where their friends were at. Finally at 8:00 pm slow waltz music began to play on the dance floor.

John held his hand out to Blair "may I have this dance?"

"Of course you may" she replied taking it.

Back at the other table Starr smiled at the music flowing before turning to her husband.

Cole noticed, "Would you like to dance?"

"Yes" she smiled as they walked to the dance floor.

Blair continued to smile as her and John danced the waltz, the two could not take their eyes off each other as the music began to play gently and it was just like the dream Blair had. It was indeed the same music and same type of dance. Surely Blair had mistaken, she could love again but she was so worn out about her divorce with Todd that she not think she could. The music began playing slower and slower as if there were a movie going on and it had to freeze for one particular moment. Just as John moved her quickly on the other side of the dance floor something caught Blair's eye. A young man who looked about the age of nineteen was picking a girl up and spinning her around in a small turn. The girl who looked the same age, but wore a dark pink dress was smiling and laughing. As they shared a kiss after something about this girl forced Blair out of her dreaming thoughts. She seemed to remind her so much of someone but who?

_Slip!_

John stopped moving Blair around as she bumped straight into Todd's back.

"Learn how to dance," he sneered as they moved away.

Blair gave him a look before turning to John "I'm so sorry".

"It's all right" he assured her as her face went a little pale "are you okay?"

"I'm fine it's just that I thought I saw a familiar face back there but..." when she turned back to where the couple was but they were gone.

Starr and Cole hurried off the dance floor when the music stopped playing.

"Cole I'm going to call Lois to see how Nichole is doing" Starr told him "I'll be right back".

He nodded "make sure no one sees you".

As Blair was taking her seat out of the corner of her eye she saw the same girl heading to the bathroom. Should she follow her? No that would be too much, on the other hand maybe she could just introduce herself and that would be it. After all, there wasn't anything wrong about being friendly to someone.

While in the bathroom, Starr finally had her mask taken off and took out her cell phone.

"Hey Lois" she said, "how is Nichole? Did she have her dinner? Great, she's sleeping now, okay thanks bye". As she put her phone back she started re doing her make-up.

Blair gently turned the knob on the door and pushed.

_Bang!_

Starr gasped as she heard the door move; she took her purse and mask and ran into one of the bathroom stalls.

Blair opened the door wide but found an empty room "Hello?" she said as she heard slight movement "is anybody here?"

Starr's heart began thumping loud in her ears as she recognized the voice _MOM?_


	14. Chapter 14

**No one can tear us apart **

**Again thank-you to everyone who has read my story now let's continue...**

Starr's heart began thumping loud in her ears as she recognized the voice _MOM?_

"Is there someone in here?" Blair called hearing slight movement.

"Uh Blair?" a voice said tapping on her shoulder.

She turned around to see Marcie McBain standing behind her wearing a normal red dress and golden earrings with her own mask in her hands "Hi Marcie".

"Are you talking to someone?" Marcie asked.

Before Blair could answer Dorian came "Blair darling come, the next dance is about to start oh hello Marcie".

"But I..." Blair started to say

"No time to fix your hair!" Dorian interrupted "c'mon let's go" she grabbed her niece and started dragging her back to the dance floor.

Marcie shrugged entering the bathroom.

Starr, who had heard the whole conversation thought all the women were gone so without putting her mask back gone, she came out.

Seeing her reflection in the mirror, Marcie turned around "Starr?"

"Oh shoot!" Starr exclaimed heading back into the stall.

"Wait!" Marcie yelled at the closed door.

She placed her ear against it "Starr is that you?"

A loud bang was heard; "Yeah" a voice mumbled, "it's me".

Marcie smiled clapping her hands seeing her former student after all these years.

Starr came out of the stall "Hello Mrs. McBain".

The smile on Marcie's face did not disappear as she gave her a hug "hi Starr, it's good to see you again".

To make her aunt stop bugging her, Blair danced twice with John before heading back to her table.

While he used the washroom Blair thought she might go with him to look another time in the girl's washroom but decided not to. _It's probably nothing _Blair thought _that girl is just a normal party guest; maybe my thoughts just drove me away. _Then Victoria made her way down to the table where her 'competition' was sitting at.

"Hi Claire" she said.

"It's Blair" Blair corrected "and if your purpose here is to get on my nerves all night then leave".

"I'm not" Victoria said, "I really did forget your name... BLAIR and no I'm not here to bother you".

"Oh is that so?" Blair said "then why are you here?"

"Just want to give your heads up that your ex-husband will probably tell you we made out in the washroom, but that's not true".

"Why are you telling me this?"

Victoria took a seat beside her "because I don't want you to get upset just because of Todd's crap".

"Well I won't" Blair said firmly "I'm over Todd now and starting a new relationship in my life".

"Ah yes" Victoria smirked "that cop you came with tonight John McBain, what a hottie I must say".

''Listen!" Blair snapped grabbing her arm "If you put one finger on John I'll..."

"Relax!" Victoria interrupted taking her arm away "Blair I'm not here to spoil your whole night, believe me''.

Blair crossed her arms over her chest still unconvinced.

Victoira sighed "all right I'll prove it to you" she paused pouring herself a glass of wine and sat back "I wasn't really Todd's date''.

"What?" Blair said getting interested.

"Apparently Todd wanted to bring this other girl" Victoria explained "but for some reason she couldn't make it so he found me at work and paid me to come and humiliate you with him".

Blair smirked facing the other way "well that sure sounds like him" then she faced back to Victoria "but why are you spoiling the plans?"

"Because honey I like you" Victoria said "the way you stood up to him really impressed me, you certainly showed him you're not going down without a fight and I haven't been in a relationship with him before but I know that when Todd wants something he will do everything he can to get it done even if the people he loves or once loved get hurt so be aware". That was the last thing she said before leaving with her glass.

Blair tapped her fingers gently on the table thinking about her daughter Starr "Yeah I know".


	15. Chapter 15

**No one can tear us apart **

Meanwhile Starr began to tell Marcie what her whole life had become over the past three years in the bathroom with the door locked.

" You and Cole had a baby" Marcie smiled "congratulations".

"Thanks" Starr said as she reached into her purse and pulled out a picture of Nichole "here she is''.

"Oh look at her!" Marcie cried, "She defiantly looks like you Starr".

"Yeah she does" Starr nodded "but how are you doing with Dr. McBain?"

"Well Michael and I have been great" Marcie replied handing the picture back "in fact we had a little girl too''.

"Oh Marcie that's wonderful!'' Starr exclaimed hugging her again ''but I thought...''

"Yeah me too" Marcie said "but one year I woke up feeling very different and headed to the doctors and next thing you know, I'm pregnant with our daughter Gabriella".

"How old is she?"

"She'll be eighteen months next week".

"I'm really happy for you" Starr told her "maybe one day we could all go to the park together''.

"Yeah I'd love that" Marcie paused for a moment '' does anyone else know you're here?"

"Only my Aunt Viki, Jessica and Langston and Markko" Starr said "Marcie please don't tell anyone yet, Cole and I are going to present ourselves tonight after the second speech".

"Don't worry I won't " Marcie said "should we get back to the ball now, I'm sure some of the woman won't be able to hold it for long".

Starr laughed putting her mask back on "let's go".

But just as they headed out they noticed Todd in the corner with a small bottle of whiskey in his hands.

"Hello ladies" he smirked turning to Marcie "and kidnapper''.

"Very funny Todd!" Marcie snapped ''I can see you're not having a good time''.

Todd pretended to make a sad face "my date dumped me, she left since I yelled at her for spoiling our plans".

"Oh too bad" Marcie said ''well good thing Sam is out of your care, wouldn't want to see him with a terrible guardian?"

"Shut your mouth!" Todd yelled "why don't you take your pretty little friend and go''.

"Fine by me".

As they walked away Starr whispered to Marcie ''I can't believe my dad acts like that, he didn't even recognize me'.

When they arrived back at the dance floor Marcie went back to her table with Michael and Starr went back with her family. She danced again with Cole three times before they decided to take different partners, Starr with Brody and Charlie and Cole with Viki and Jessica. Soon it was 12:00am Starr and Cole took a deep breath as Markko let them to the speech table.

"Okay guys" he said '' Langston told Dorian she had a headache and Dorian totally bought it" he pointed over to the head table were Dorian was giving her foster daughter medication tablets which she refused to take focusing her attention on her two friends.

"Whenever you're ready," he told them as he left "good-luck".

Starr nodded at Cole as she lowered the mic seeing all her friends and family staring at her while Cole kept his attention on Bo and Nora seated at another table.

"Now Langston" Dorian urged pushing the pills at her "you must take these".

"In a minute" Langston said getting a little annoyed "I just want to hear this speech first".

As Dorian gave up Blair looked up thinking _hey it's that girl again! Is she following me or what?_

Starr carefully opened the slip of paper "ladies and gentleman" she spoke clearly "the time for the this event is almost up so on behave of Llanview I hope everyone has had a spectacular time and enjoyed all the dances that have been played and the food table as we celebrate this time to honor Llanview".

Everyone applauded as Starr stopped and handed the mic to Cole.

"But there is something else that we have to celebrate" he said causing everyone to stop clapping and stare at the two.

"What" Dorian said panicking "that's supposed to be it, Langston what kind of trick are your friends trying to pull?"

"You know them?" Blair asked.

"Yeah" Langston smiled not taking her eyes off the speakers "just wait".

"You see" Cole explained "a couple of years ago, two teenagers ran off because they were in love but no one would allow them to be together''.

"So they moved away" Starr added taking the mic "they didn't mean to hurt anyone but they just couldn't stay away from each other and no one has seen or heard of them... until now".

They nodded and took of their masks showing their faces to everyone.

Blair stood up and gasped "Starr!"

"My name is Cole Thornheart" Cole said ''and this is my wife Starr''.

"Hello everyone" she smiled ''we're back".

"My baby!" Blair screamed as she ran up and embraced her daughter as tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Hi mom" Starr said as she broke down "I missed you so much".

Cole smiled watching the two reunite, just then John came up

"Well Cole, glad to see that you and Starr again".

"Hi Mr. McBain" Cole said, "It's been a long time" he paused before adding ''listen I'm sorry I...."

"It's okay" John interrupted "all that matters now is that the both of you are here now safe and sound".

"Thanks".

"Cole!" a voice shouted behind him.

Cole turned around to see Nora, Clint, and Matthew walking up to him; he smiled again and went to embrace his old family.


	16. Chapter 16

**No One Can tear us apart**

**Note: **** Hey everybody I'm back!**

**Once again, I am really really sorry for not updating in a while, school has just been really hectic (Stupid exams!) Anyway I will be continuing with this story and I promise it will be completed. I have been trying to keep up with One Life to Live and even though Starr and Cole named their baby Hope I'm going to stick with Nicole for my story. I hated it when Bess took Starr's baby and replaced it with Jessica's, that got me so mad for a while but I'm glad Starr finally has her baby back and that her and Cole are going to raise Hope together (that was so sweet of Marcie) but I still feel bad for Jessica, seeing her at Chloe's funeral made me cry :sniffs: but at least she still has Bree. Also I'm thinking of making Todd one of the bad guys in here. Even though he apologized I still don't trust him. Remember the purpose of my story is to show everyone how things would have turned out if Starr and Cole had stayed on the run longer. Well enough of that all ready, let's get back to the story, as you all remember Starr and Cole had finally showed themselves at the Masquerade but how will everyone react?**

"Starr you're back!" Blair cried not letting go of her daughter "you're finally home!"

"I know mom!" Starr said facing her "I'm sorry for causing you so much pain, please don't be too angry with me".

"It's okay" Blair assured her wiping the tears off her cheeks as the embrace ended "look how much you grew".

Starr blushed "only a few feet".

"When did you decided to come home?" Blair asked.

"Well it was after my nineteenth birthday" Starr explained "Cole and I were looking for a way to present ourselves and when we learned about the Masquerade we decided to come".

Blair looked at her seriously "is it true? Are you and Cole married?"

"Yes" Starr admitted "don't hate him mom, we got married because he loves me and I love him so much".

"Really?"

"Yes!" Starr snapped getting angry that she practically had to scream her love for Cole to everyone "why does everybody have a hard time believing that?"

"Okay okay I'm sorry" Blair said not wanting to get in a fight with her daughter at their reunion.

"You look beautiful" she commented changing the subject, she gently cupped Starr's chin "my beautiful baby girl".

That seemed to cheer Starr up a little as she smiled "well I'm not a baby anymore, I did turn nineteen remember?"

"Oh my gosh that's right" Blair said "Starr we must do something together to make up for that time but first" she took her hand "I think there's some people who you need to say hello to."

"It's good to see you again man" Matthew said as Cole gave him the last hug "the house has been very quiet without you".

Cole smiled "it's good to see you again too".

"First we lost Marty" Nora sobbed as tears continued to flow in her eyes "and now I thought we lost you".

"It's okay Nora" Cole assured her giving her another hug "Starr and I aren't going anywhere for now".

"For now?" Clint asked "what do you mean?"

As Starr was reunited with Dorian and her other family members that did not know she was here John and Blair stood behind them.

"Wow" John said causing Blair to turn to him.

"What?"

"I can't believe their back, looks like we can finally close this case about their disappearance".

Blair nodded looking at her daughter again "I knew that girl in the bathroom looked familiar".

John pushed a strand of her hair back "you could never doubt any of your children".

Blair smiled leaning in to his embrace.

After Starr hugged Dorian, she turned to Langston.

"Well you too should be happy to see each other again" Dorian said.

Both the girls giggled "actually Dorian I've know Starr was here for a while".

"You knew?" Dorian frowned "you knew the whole time and you didn't say anything?"

"It was my fault" Starr said afraid her great aunt might have a fit "I pushed her to keep it a secret for a while".

"That's not true Starr" Langston insisted "I wanted to help".

"Okay pip down!" Dorian exclaimed "we can deal with this tomorrow right now let's just be happy that Starr and Cole are back in Llanview".

Starr nodded walking over to the table she sat at. She gave a look at her aunt Viki, Dorian might have not been furious with Langston much since that was her foster daughter but she was certain that Dorian would explode if she found out that her great niece had been hiding under her biggest rival's house.

"Hello Starr" Viki greeted softly hugging her.

Starr smiled returning the embrace and whispered in her ear "thank-you".

She peered over her aunt's shoulder as Jessica quickly explained everything to Brody and winked at her cousin.

Starr winked back.

Cole walked straight ahead heading for his wife but stopped noticing Blair.

"Hello Mrs. Cramer" he greeted not knowing how she would react.

"Hello Cole" Blair said firmly "you taking care of my daughter right?"

"Yes ma'am".

"You're not hurting her?"

"Absolutely not".

"Good" Blair replied as her frown turned into a smile as she gave him a hug "because we've missed you".

Cole was, of course shocked by her actions but then returned the embrace.

"So how have you and Cole been these past few years?" Dorian asked "is he treating you good?"

"The best" Starr said and beamed when she saw him return to the table with her mother and John.

"So the both of you are married" Dorian said "show us the rings".

Starr and Cole reached out their hands, a sparkling diamond laid on Starr's hand while Cole supported a gold wedding band.

"Wow that's defiantly a keeper" Dorian praised "but how did you afford that?"

"Dorian!" Langston snapped.

"I'm just asking".

Before anyone else could say another word a voice came up from behind "Starr is that you?"

The couple turned around and sighed heavily for it was the man they had been nervous about meeting again, Todd Manning.

There was a moment of dead silence.

"Uh... hi dad" Starr stammered trying to look for the right thing to say.

"You son of a bi...!" Todd yelled launching at Cole pinned him to the ground and giving him a few punches right in the face!

Starr gasped "dad let go of him!"

"Todd stop it!" Blair shouted.

As everyone stood horrified John and Markko stepped in breaking up the two. John kept Todd pinned back as Markko helped Cole up "you okay man?"

"Fine" Cole replied as a huge purple bruise staring appearing on his cheek.

Markko turned to Dorian "can we get some ice?"

She immediately obeyed heading to the bar counter.

"Cole are you okay?" Starr asked rushing up to him and checking his face.

Still pinned back by John Todd yelled "Starr come here!"

She turned at him "No!" she said angrily "I'm staying with my husband!"

"You married her?" Todd snarled at Cole "you bastard! First you rape my daughter and then you take her away from me now you married her!"

"He never raped me!"

Todd pushed John off him but the cop still blocked his entrance.

"I am not leaving her without my daughter" Todd sneered.

"Well in cause you haven't noticed she's a full grown adult now and you have no business telling her what to do" John said back "besides I think you're going to spend the rest of the night in the slammer". He motioned for two security guards to come forth "this man is being put under charges for high assault on that young man over there, I want you to take him in and lock him up for the night".

The guards nodded placing hand-cuffs on Todd and leading him out.

Before they left Todd glanced at John "this isn't over" he warned "I will get my daughter back and when I do" he looked at Cole "that bastard will pay".

"Oh Cole I'm so sorry" Starr said as the both of them sat down at the table alone.

"It's fine" he assured her placing a bag of ice on his cheek "I guess I should have seen that coming".

"I can't believe it's been three years and he still hasn't changed" Starr said "he still believes that you raped me".

"Are you surprised?"

"No, not really but still".

"Hey guys" Langston said as her and Markko came up "Cole how's the bruise?"

"At least it's not turning black or blue" Cole smirked.

"Well what are you guys going to do now?" Langston asked "are you going to stay for the rest of the party".

"I think we'd better take off" Starr said "we don't want to cause anymore drama".

Cole agreed "plus I don't think I can dance anymore with a bruised cheek".

"Guys c'mon" Markko urged "everybody finally knows you here, plus Mr. Manning is locked up for the night".

Starr hung her head.

Markko paused realizing his mistake "sorry".

Langston took a seat beside Starr "maybe it is best if you guys go home and get some rest, you guys have been through a lot tonight".

Starr nodded "you're right". She turned to Cole "you ready to go?"

"Yes".

"Okay I just want to say good-bye to my mom".

They left their friends and walked to the dance floor where Blair was dancing with John.

"Hey mom" Starr said as the two stopped.

"Hey Starr what's wrong?"

"Well Starr and I were thinking about heading home" Cole told her.

"It's really late" Starr added "plus I think we've had enough for tonight".

"No wait" Blair said quickly "why don't the both of you come home with me" she smiled at her daughter "you can have your own room back and your dad won't be there".

"I don't know mom" Starr said thinking about something "we're happy at...the hotel we're staying at right now".

"Please".

"Ms. Cramer" Cole said "Starr and I plan to stay at Llanview for a while, it's not like we're going to run away again".

"I know that" Blair said with a frown at Starr "it's just that now that I have you back, I want us to stay close to make up for all those years".

Starr and Cole looked at each other thinking about it for a minute, finally they both nodded.

"Okay mom we'll come" Starr said "but can we please leave now".

"Of course sweetie" Blair replied turning to John "do you mind?"

"No, not at all, Cole let's go get everyone's jacket".

As Blair said goodbye to Dorian Starr hurried over to her aunt Viki.

''How's Cole doing?" Viki asked.

"He's fine" Starr said "actually I was wondering if Nicole could sleep over, just for the night".

"Darling of course" Viki said before lowering her voice "you haven't told your mother yet have you?"

Starr nodded "I will tell her soon I promise, it's just she's so happy having me back and I don't what to ruin it".

Viki held her hand "I understand Starr, you guys can come and pick her up in the morning or whatever time works best".

"Thank-you Aunt Viki" Starr said giving her one final hug "you're the best".

As soon as she left her aunt Cole came up and handed his wife her jacket "did you talk to Viki about Nicole?"

"Yes" Starr replied "she's agreed to keep her for the night".

"Once this all cools down then we tell them" Cole said "fair enough?"

"You bet".

When Starr and Cole followed John and Blair outside Starr managed to get a quick glance at Marcie and waved. The four drove home in John's car heading up to the mansion that Starr had grow up in most of her life and was eager to see again. They quickly got out of the car, Blair stepped forward and unlocked the door quietly not wanting to disturb the boys or her mother who were all ready sleeping.

"We'll be upstairs" Cole whispered as him and Starr headed up "thanks John".

When they left Blair faced John "thank-you for letting us come home early, I had a really great time tonight".

"Yeah" John smiled "me too" he reached forward to give his date a good-night kiss.

Starr and Cole opened the room where her brothers shared to sneak a peek at them. Jack laid fully stretched on the bed with his feet stretched out and his messy blonde hair sunk in the pillow. Sam, on the other hand curled up in a ball with a sheet surrounding him and his night light opened.

Starr quietly closed the door "they've gotten so big".

"I know" Cole said "I can hardly recognize them''.

"So you still remember this house very much" Blair said coming up from behind them.

"Yeah mom I still do".

Moments later Blair picked out one of her short silk white nightgowns for Starr to wear in her bedroom.

"It might be a little big" Blair observed "but it will help keep you warm for tonight".

"Thanks mom" Starr said before hanging her head "I'm sorry for what happened with dad tonight".

"Don't worry about it" her mother cooed smiling "besides now I have my daughter back and we have no more secrets from each other".

"Yeah" Starr said thinking about Nicole "no secrets".

"You guys call me if you need anything" Blair said as she left "good-night".

"Good-night".

Meanwhile, Cole came out of the bathroom and was dressed in his boxers and his white t-shirt. He whistled seeing Starr in the night-gown "wow you look so hot".

Starr blushed "you too".

As they both slipped into bed and cuddled Starr looked into her husband's eyes "I'm glad we came back".

"Me too" Cole said wrapping an arm around her waist "but you know we still have one more secret to tell your mom and everybody else".

"Oh you're right" Starr said feeling a little worried.

"It's okay Starr" Cole soothed "it might be hard for them to understand at first".

"But whatever happens we will deal with it together" Starr finished.

The two shared a kiss for a moment before Cole reached over and turned of the light.

**Well there's the chapter!**

**Hope you guys liked it!**

**Ha Ha! Todd got in TROUBLE!**

**I still have my exams to finish so I probably won't update until some time next week**

**Thank-you to everybody who has read my story and encouraged me to right more.**

**Till then, Butterflygirl1234**


	17. Chapter 17

**No One Can tear us apart**

**Note: Hooray!**

**Marcie is pregnant and Starr and Cole are ENGAGED! **

**Our prayers have been answered!**

**Todd you'd better not get in the way of the wedding or I'll...**

**Never mind, on with the story**

Starr was the first one to wake up the next morning, she covered her mouth as she let out a big yawn and looked at the clock that was on her nightstand. It was 10:00 am and it had been the day after Starr and her husband had finally showed themselves in Llanview. She was overjoyed to see her family again but could still feel guilt in her stomach because her and Cole still had one more secret to tell. Starr stood up in bed and smiled watching Cole sleep. The huge bruise he received from her dad had gone away showing his clear skin. She leaned over to kiss him softly, he opened both his eyes and smiled at her "Good morning".

"Good morning" she said "ready to get up?"

"No".

Starr shook her head but kept a smile "Cole it's 10:00 am, I'm sure my grandmother and brothers are up by now".

Cole slowly stood up and pushed his hair back "well they didn't stay up partying last night".

"C'mon" Starr said as she pulled the covers off and got out of the bed "after breakfast we have to go straight to aunt Viki's to pick up Nicole".

As she opened the door to the hallway she found something. Two bags laid in the middle of the doorway with a small note labeled _Starr and Cole._

"What's this?" Starr wondered as she picked it up and brought it into the room.

"What's what?"

She placed the bags onto the bed and began searching through one. A pink blouse with blue jeans and black flats were found just in her size. As Cole searched the other bag, he found a black t-shirt with blue jeans and black sneakers. Starr opened up the note it read:

_Starr and Cole,_

_I think these might be of good use to the both of you._

_I took the liberty into buying them for you guys this morning._

_I've also told your grandmother and the boys that you guys are here, they were_

_overjoyed of course but I told them firmly not to disturb the both of you._

_See you downstairs,_

_Mom_

"It seems my mom got us new clothes" Starr said folding up the note.

"It seems she did" Cole said observing one of the sneakers closely "she must have figured we can't stay in those formal clothes forever".

Starr nodded picking up the bag "I'll be in the bathroom".

Twenty minutes later the both of them ready and dressed in the new clothes and packed the dress and the tuxedo in the bags to take home. As Starr brushed her hair in the bathroom letting it down for the day, Cole placed on the sneakers. Just then the door flung opened as Jack came in.

"Cole!"he yelled "you're here but where's...?"

"Jack?" Starr said as she put the brush down and came out of the bathroom.

"Starr!" Jack shouted running up and embracing her.

"Hi little brother" Starr cooed stroking his hair "I'm here now".

"So mom was telling the truth" Jack said as the hug ended "at first I wasn't sure if she was trying to play a joke on us but then I heard voices upstairs and now I know". He looked at Cole and gave a hard look.

Starr noticed "Jack please don't be angry with Cole, it wasn't his fault''.

"Don't worry I know" Jack said "I kind of figured it out a long time ago when dad started turning into a control freak and turning to the bottle of liquor".

"Where's Sam?" Starr asked eager to see her other brother again.

"He's downstairs" Jack told her as he motioned for her and Cole to follow him "c'mon". When all three of them went downstairs to the kitchen they found Addie, Sam, and Blair sitting at the table.

"Starr Cole!" Addie exclaimed seeing her granddaughter "look at you! You're all grown up!"

Starr smiled noticing her grandmother's wild behavior "hello grandma, still taking your medication?"

"Yes" she replied "and thank goodness because without that I wouldn't have been able to help your mother".

"Mama" Blair hissed.

"You should have seen her" Addie continued ignoring her daughter "every night it was always dark circles under the eyes, messy hair,..."

"Okay Mama she gets it" Blair interrupted "and that was only because Todd was in my life but now that he is out of the way...who wants some juice?" she walked to the fridge.

As Starr, Cole and Jack took a seat at the table Starr looked over at Sam.

"Hi Sam" she said ''remember me?"

"You're my sister" Sam answered "I saw you in my dreams, mommy said you went to college".

"Well she did Sam" Blair said bringing cups on the table "but now she's back".

Sam pointed to Cole "Who's that?"

"This is my husband" Starr told him "and now finally the two of you can meet again".

Cole smiled "it's nice to see you Sam".

The boy smiled back "I like your shirt".

Hearing those words reminded Starr of how they first got the clothes "mom you didn't have to buy us new clothes".

"No I should have" Blair said "the mall was opened at eight so mama and I decided to go".

"Plus the two of you needed the clothes'' Addie concluded "and we needed the fresh air".

After breakfast Starr quickly went back up to her room to get her cellphone out of her purse. She quickly dialed Viki's number and let the line ring for a while.

"Hi aunt Viki how's Nicole?"

"She's fine, but she's starting to worry about where her mommy and daddy are".

"Okay we'll be there right away bye".

Starr hung up her cellphone, put it back in her purse, grabbed her belongings and walked downstairs. She came back into the kitchen where Langston and Dorian had finally woken up after sleeping in and were having a small breakfast themselves that Addie was fixing while Cole was playing a game of cards with Jack and Sam.

"Uh Cole?" Starr said "can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure" he replied placing his cards down and following her into the hallway.

"Okay I think now is the time to tell my mom and everyone else about Nicole".

Cole nodded "how do you think we should tell her?"

"Well we will have to tell my mom first, Langston can do the honor of telling Dorian and after we can go visit Nora and the others and tell them".

Cole chuckled "don't want to tell Dorian yourself?"

Starr shook her head "I don't think I will like the type of reaction from Dorian".

"What about your dad?"

"you're still thinking of telling him?" Starr said in a serious tone before lowering her voice "Cole he attacked you last night just by learning that you married me, I don't think he deserves to know that we had a child".

After a moment of thinking Cole replied "yeah you might be right, but we can't hide it forever".

"So what's our agenda for today?" Blair asked in a cheerful mood coming from behind the couple.

"Um actually mom would you like to go with us to the park today?" Starr asked.

"The park?" Blair said "I thought we were going to take you to the mall to spend your belated nineteenth birthday on a girl's night out...Cole you don't mind spending one day by yourself".

"It's not that" Cole told her "it's just we have to tell you something and we think the park would be the best place".

"Okay" Blair said "why not, there's no such thing as too much fresh air, we can walk down together".

"Oh right" Starr said pretending to be surprised "Cole I forgot something at the hotel, would you mind getting it for me please?"

"Of course" Cole nodded "I'll meet you guys there".

While Blair went to get ready Starr pulled Langston in the hallway where no one could hear them and quickly explained the situation.

"No worries" Langston said "I'll tell Dorian when you guys leave".

"Thanks Langston" Starr smiled giving her hug.

Langston looked out the window in the living-room till she was certain Blair and Starr where out of the view.

"Langston honey?" Dorian said causing her to turn around as Addie sat on the couch "why are you looking out the window?"

"There's something I have to tell you" Langston answered "it's about Starr and Cole".

"Okay tell" Dorian said sipping her tea.

_All right _Langston thought taking a deep breath _here it goes._

******

"So Starr is there a reason why you and Cole brought me here?" Blair asked as they walked around the same playground watching children.

"Yeah'' she said as her and her mother took a seat on the bench "there is".

"Well before you tell me I want to give you update on what we are going to do today" Blair smiled "first we'll get our hair done, nails, toes and have a big family dinner with everybody including Cole and not you father..."

"Mom wait" Starr interrupted "I really have to tell you something, you see there was another reason why Cole and I decided to come back other than we wanted to see our families again".

"What was it?"

Starr remained silent and looked at the children.

"Starr?" her mother said snapping her out of her thoughts so her daughter could look at her "what was it?"

Before Starr could reply, a familiar sound of Cole's car came into the parking lot. Cole got out of the car and headed to the back seat unbuckling Nicole's car seat. He took his daughter's hand and let her into the park, Nicole looked around curiously at her surroundings but smiled when she spotted her mother.

"Mommy!'' Nicole yelled letting go of her dad's hand and running ahead. Starr smiled running up and scoping her daughter in her arms "hi baby, did you have fun at aunt Viki's house?"

Nicole nodded "I like Bree".

Cole smiled watching his family as Starr placed a kiss on Nicole's forehead. His smile turned into a serious look as he looked at Blair's direction. Starr noticed. Blair stood up still not moving like a tree with her mouth hung open so low her jaw could have been sore.

"Who's at?" Nicole asked.

"That's you grandma" Starr told her daughter as the three walked forward facing Blair.

"Blair or... Ms. Cramer" Cole stammered not wondering how she would react "we would like you to meet you granddaughter, Nicole Marty Thornheart".

Blair closed her mouth and moved forward slowly gently touching the little girl's hair giving her a small smile.

*****

Meanwhile, thanks to his lawyer Todd Manning was able to get out of jail the next day. As a police officer uncuffed him Todd turned to John McbBain who was standing a few feet away going through some papers.

''I knew they couldn't keep me in the slammer long" Todd smirked.

"Just don't go see your daughter" John said firmly "you've already ruined enough of her and her husband's life".

"You got a lot of guts trying to tell me what to do" Todd said coming up to him and getting in his face ''but as I said before, that little bastard will pay for what he did to my daughter".

"For what?" John spat "for loving her, treating her like a true person, and most of all, taking her away from you".

Just then officer Fish came along.

"Gentlemen let's not do this right now" he said "we don't want to have to lock up both of you in a prison cell".

Without saying another word, Todd walked away. He took the stairs down and took out his phone.

"Okay listen, yeah I'm fine, how is she? Listen from now on I want the nurse watching her like a hawk" he hung up on him and dialed Blair's house number.

"Hey Sam" he said smiling "how are you? I'm just calling to see how you are doing, I miss you, listen do you know where your sister is? at the park okay thank I'll talk to you later soon bye". Todd put his cellphone in his jacket pocket and threw out a small bottle of cheap alcohol. Now that his daughter was back he wasn't going to make himself look bad, the only goal he had was to get her back in his life and save her from that rapist that took her away from him.

******

There was still dead silence as Blair continued to stare at the little girl. Starr noticed and placed Nicole on the ground "Nicole you can go play on the playground if you want" she told her daughter. Nicole smiled and ran excitedly joining the other kids. Blair sat on the bench still staring, after a minute after Starr and Cole joined her but made sure they had a good eye on where their child was.

"Please say something" Starr said wanting to know her mother's reaction.

"So that's why the both of you left" Blair said finally turning to Starr "because you got pregnant".

Starr nodded but said no words.

"And you did this to her" Blair said to Cole as anger began to rise in her voice.

"Mom it was a decision that we made together" Starr told her "I swear it".

"We were teenagers back then" Cole immediately concluded "we were both scared when Starr found out she was pregnant but there was a little joy because we found out that we were going to have a baby together, something Todd couldn't take away from us".

"We were scared mostly of him" Starr said to her mother in a serious tone "mom he almost killed Cole when he found us in bed together, I couldn't risk him doing it again if he found out that I was carrying Cole's child".

"So for three years" Blair got up from the bench and faced the couple "three years not only did you run away and worried me everyday of my life but you also raised a baby by yourselves".

"It wasn't easy at first" Cole admitted "but we made it through raising our daughter, now we know we've made the right decision to keep her".

Starr nodded "I never regret the decision to raise my baby with the man that I love, and I'm sorry you weren't there for those years but I was scared mom".

The expression on Blair's face seemed to lighten up a little as her daughter stood up and looked like she was about to cry.

"I didn't know how you would react'' Starr told her "it was bad enough that you were still married to dad so I didn't know what side you would take"she paused before adding "if I could turn back the clock and go back in time to tell you I would".

Blair stood silent again before tears spilled from her eyes as well "Oh Starr, I just want my baby to be okay".

Starr smiled "I am".

The two hugged each other in a loving embrace knowing that everyone was forgiven.


	18. Chapter 18

"Oh she's precious" Blair commented after Nicole had stopped playing on the playground and was now sitting on her grandmother's lap.

"Yeah she is" Starr agreed as her and Cole smiled at each other as the two of them sat beside Blair.

"Just think" Blair said "one day this little girl is going to grown up into a lovely young women".

Starr giggled ''don't go too far mom, she's only two".

"Oh this totally changes our plans for today" Blair said "Starr if you want to bring Nicole to the mall with us you're more than welcomed too".

"She can stay with me" Cole answered "we don't want to spoil your plans, besides she usually gets fussy and impatient if it cuts into her nap time".

"All right then if you say so" Blair said before turning to her daughter "but she will be there tonight".

Just then a figure stood behind tall bushes that stood a few feet behind the bench listening with interest at the conversation.

"I mean it's not everyday that I find out I have a granddaughter" Blair added smiling.

Todd's eyes were wide, _did he just hear Blair say granddaughter?_

"The both of you do have jobs right?" Blair asked "we wouldn't want this little girl to go unprovided".

Starr quickly explained how she got a job working at a Daycare Center. After the baby was six months old Cole also managed to get a job since the head lady Misty was the niece of a principal Aaron who was at need for an assistant coach at his school. Even though Cole was at a young age they hired him because of his impressive coaching skills and he was able to replace the old coach who had to move to another school.

"That's my girl" Blair said ''besides us does anyone else in the household know about Nicole? I reckon Langston and Markko know since they were the first ones you went to when you came back "

"Yeah they know" Starr replied "and I told Langston to tell Dorian and grandma Addie".

Blair smiled "well I'd better get back to the house, there's no telling how Dorian will react but we have to discuss the dinner plans" she stood up and placed Nicole gently on the ground "Starr should we meet in the mall in a half an hour?"

"Of course" Starr said before giving her mom a goodbye hug ''thank you for understanding".

"Sweetie I won't lie, this is a lot for me to take in" Blair told her "but if you and Cole and that child are happy, that's all that matters to me".

"Thank-you Mrs. Cramer" Cole said.

"I told you to call me Blair".

"Sorry Blair".

She gave one last hug to Nicole and then Blair walked out of the park not seeing Todd, and back to her house.

"Well that was nicely handled" Cole said "better than we thought".

"Hey she knows we love each other" Starr told him wrapping her arms around him "we share a great life together just the two of us"she looked back to where Nicole was standing and added "and our little girl". Nicole smiled running up to her parents as the three of them shared a group hug.

Todd leaned back in his hiding place trying to take it all in keeping his temper at a certain rate.

"Oh Nicole you left your jacket in the car" Starr said, noticing that in this particular day there were clouds forming in the sky and a cold breeze occured "here I'll go get it, Cole can I have the keys?"

"Here" he said as he handed them to her. As his wife left he knelled down so he was in level with his daughter "mommy has to go out for a few hours princess but till then it will be just you and me so we can do whatever you want".

Just then he heard a voice came up from behind him "so trying to win the award for daddy of the year?"

Cole turned around seeing the one person he did not want to see, his "father-in-law" Todd Manning who added "too bad they don't count liars".

Cole stood up "what do you want Mr. Manning?" he asked coldly hoping Todd didn't notice Nicole but it seemed more like a wish than a ray of hope.

"Oh come one" Todd smirked raising his gaze at the little girl "I finally want to introduce myself to my granddaughter". He crouched down a little "hi Nicole". The little girl looked at him curiously but still hid behind her daddy's legs.

"What you don't know who I am? Yeah I reckon your parents never told you about me" Todd said giving Cole a nasty look before turning to Nicole again ''I'm your grandpa, come here and give me a hug". He began to walk towards her but Cole stopped him "stay the hell away from my daughter".

"Like you did mine".

"What's going on here?" Starr's voice asked as she returned with the jacket. Seeing her dad with her family her eyes grew wide since she knew that the moment had come and what he had discovered.

She placed the jacket around Nicole's shoulders "honey can you go and play again, me and daddy have to have some grown-up talk".

"K mommy" Nicole said running back to the playground.

''Bye Nicole" Todd waved putting on a fake smile.

"What is going on here?" Starr repeated.

"You can cut the crap Starr" Todd spat "I know that you and his moron have a child together, it's a good thing I heard Blair".

"You were listening to our conversation" Cole said as angry began to grow inside of him.

"It's a good thing I was" Todd simply said "or else I never would have found out about this".

"Our conversation was private".

"Because the park is a very private place to be".

"Okay that's enough dad!" Starr exclaimed "it is true Cole and I have a child together..."

"How old is she?"

"Two-years-old".

"Why wasn't I informed?"

Starr rolled her eyes "like you don't know the answer".

"You're right I do" Todd said before staring at her "so that's why the both of you disappeared...well I hope you will be the best parents to Nicole because she deserves it, she is still a Manning after all". He let them take those words in before he walked out of the park leaving behind a very shocked Starr and Cole.

"That was smooth" Cole said.

"Yeah" Starr agreed "maybe too smooth".

"Do you think he's up to something?"

"Well it is my dad" Starr pointed out "but I guess he knows he can't do anything to our family because we have a child together''.

"I don't know" Cole said "he seemed to have a pretty fiery look in his eyes when he saw me with Nicole".

"C'mon let's not worry about it" Starr urged him "there's nothing he can do about it, let's just get ready for the busy day we have planned okay?"

As they walked to the playground where their daughter was at. Todd peered back in his hiding place staring at his granddaughter, of course there was something he was going to do about it now that he had found this out. He just needed time to devise a plan that would be able to work tearing that boy from his family once and for all.

*******

"So Starr pick a colour" Blair said as she bent from the chair she was sitting on. The half an hour had gone by and Starr and her mother were starting their big night out by getting pedicures first.

"Uh the coral one please" Starr replied as the lady took the bottle, shook it, and started applying it to her toes.

"You've been very quiet lately" Blair observed noticing her daughter's behavior "is there something wrong?"

"Uh well I'm glad Dorian took it well when she heard the news" she said remembering that Dorian and Addie's reaction to Nicole were a little skeptical at first but after they came to understand.

"I know" Blair said "but they'll love Nicole just like I did".

"Dad found out" Starr suddenly blurted out no longer wanting to keep it in.

Blair set down the magazine she was reading "what?"

"After you left" Starr explained "someone must have told him that we were at the park because that is where he found us, he was listening to our conversation".

"Damn, how did he handle it?" Blair asked "does Cole have to take another trip to the hospital?"

"No" Starr replied "as a matter of fact he was quite calm and just told us to take good care of our child".

"Your father?" Blair said "well there's something I find very hard to believe, but I guess he finally knows that he can't come in the way of your family anymore".

"That's what we were thinking too" Starr said "I guess he's finally accepted it".

"Well let's not talk about him now" Blair said holding up a colour pad ''which one violet or blue?"

Starr smiled "blue".

******

"Oh my gosh Langston that dinner was great" Starr said. It was the next day on an afternoon and everyone had left the house but Starr, Langston and Nicole since Markko and Cole went to a basketball game.

"I know" Langston replied as she poured soda in Starr's glass and then hers on the living-room coffee table "I knew everyone would love Nicole, Dorian is probably out buying her gifts right now".

Starr smiled as she stared at Nicole who was on the floor playing with her toys including her favorite barbie doll.

Langston took a seat on the opposite couch before noticing "Starr that's a beautiful ring, I'm kind of wondering the same thing as Dorian was, no offense".

Starr looked at her hand "actually this is Marty's ring and the band that Cole wears was his fathers".

"Oh I'm sorry" Langston apologized.

"It's okay" Starr said "it was just something Cole wanted to assure so that he would never forget his parents".

"Speaking of parents'' Langston said "I heard what happened with your dad and I gotta admit, I'm really surprised for the way he acted".

''Same here" Starr nodded, she paused before adding "that's why I have an idea".

"What idea".

Starr didn't answer but instead went to Nicole's side ''Nicole do you want to play a game with mommy and aunt Langston?"

Nicole instantly set aside all of her toys and nodded.

"That sounds Cool" Langston said ''what game shall we play?"

Starr grinned at her "spy on my dad game''.

*******

Meanwhile Todd Manning stood firm in his own living-room talking to someone who he had not seen for a long time, his old buddy in college who was part of the rape scheme... Zach.

"Have we got that clear?" Todd asked holding up a small pack of drugs "when my daughter's husband and his friend come out of the basketball arena you slip these in his pocket got that?''

"Yeah sure" Zach smirked taking the package "just make sure I get the money''.

"You will, when the job is done".

As they both left that was the exact moment Starr and Langston entered.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Langston asked holding Nicole "maybe we shouldn't be here".

"Relax" Starr said "I want to know what my dad is hiding plus I'm his daughter, I think he won't mind if I came by to visit".

"But we're not visiting" Langston reminded her "we are s-p-y-i-n-g".

Starr sighed "well it won't be long L-a-n-g-s-t-o-n". She unlocked the front door using the spare key that Jack had and opened up turning on the first light.

"Looks like no one's home" Langston observed noticing the empty room.

''You're right" Starr nodded looking around "not even his bodyguard".

"Who's there?" a voice said coming from the kitchen.

"And I'm wrong" Starr said as the three of them ducked under the dinning room table.

Todd's body guard came out of the kitchen skimming the room "I thought I heard something".

Starr and Langston looked at each other then to Nicole who looked not scared but excited of this new game.

"Cover for us" Starr whispered "Nicole and I will look upstairs".

"You're mad" Langston whispered back ''let's just get out of here".

Starr shook her head "no, I have to find out what my dad is keeping from me".

"Fine" Langston said "but be careful".

"You too".

Langston scrambled to her feet and got out from under the table closing the tablecloth.

She coughed trying to get the bodyguard's attention.

"What are you doing here?" he asked "Miss...."

"Langston Cramer" she interrupted "Dorian's new daughter remember? The best friend of Mr. Manning's daughter".

"How did you get in here?"

"The door was unlocked".

"Well you shouldn't be here" the Bodyguard told her firmly "let me walk you out".

"Not so fast" Langston said finding the intelligent words in her mind that she could use to hopefully distract him. _Okay think like Dorian...or somewhat of Dorian._

"I was not informed that Mr. Manning was not present at this time" Langston lied "we had some business to discuss".

"Really?" he said not buying her story "like what?"

"Surely you know his daughter went missing and recently returned to Llanview" Langston said determined to win the argument.

"Yeah but..."

"Well Todd hired my as a private investigator to spy on his daughter, to dig up dirt on her former drug user husband".

"And did you?"

Langston smirked "I share my research with my boss only, not any of his employees". She paused before adding "you know I am quite hungry, I'll just make myself something and wait till Mr. Manning arrives".

"Wait Miss Cramer..." the Bodyguard stammered following her into the kitchen and closing the door behind him.

As soon as the room was clear Starr and Nicole ran up the stairs and into one of the bathrooms.

"It's a good thing Langston was able to pick up that quickly" Starr told her daughter giving her a small smile "I'm so glad we adopted her".

After the two had rummaged through all of the rooms but couldn't find a single thing Starr gave up as they walked into the hallway.

"Well we couldn't find anything could we Niki?"

Nicole shook her head "no".

"I guess grandpa isn't hiding anything" Starr said softly "weird because I thought...hey Nicole where are you going?"

Nicole ran to a spare bedroom to the right where she was certain she heard a woman's voice.

"Nicole come back!" Starr shouted running after her.

Nicole stopped at the door and tried to grab the doorknob but couldn't reach it.

Starr came up behind her "what's wrong baby?"

The toddler kept pointing at the door.

"Okay let's see" Starr said turning the knob slowly opening the door.

"Is anybody there?" the voice said "Todd is that you?"

"No it's..." Starr said but stopped mid-sentence after realizing who it was. It was her own mother-in-law Marty SayBrooke!

"Marty?" she gasped.

"Who are you?" Marty asked before smiling at Nicole "and whose is this little angel?"

"It's me Starr" she replied shocked at Marty's strange behavior "don't you know?"

"No I'm sorry''.

Starr picked up Nicole as they both sat on the bed next to Marty "how did you get here?"

Marty explained that after she was in a terrible car accident she couldn't remember one thing about the life she had before. Todd had then explained to her that he was her former college roommate and told her that she had no kids or family and offered to help her get back on her feet by keeping her locked in the room.

"So he's had you here" Starr said holding Nicole closer to her "all this time".

"Yes" Marty replied ''wait a minute...are you his daughter Starr?"

"Yes" she told her as anger came "Marty my dad has been telling you all lies, he is not your college roommate, he RAPED YOU!"

"What?" Marty said puzzled "what on earth are you talking about?"

Starr let go of Nicole for a second and took off her engagement ring and held it to Marty "do you recognize this?"

Marty held it in her hand for a while "where did you get this? This looks so familiar".

"It's your engagement ring" Starr said "your son gave it to me when we married".

Suddenly all of the old memories Marty had came rushing back in her head.

"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed ''you're right! Patrick gave this to me! I have a son! Todd raped me! Wait you married! Who is this little girl?!"

"I'll explain everything later" Starr said before reaching for the phone "but I think John needs to hear about this first".

******

Twenty minutes later Todd was back at the police station again under handcuffs.

Cole and and Blair were there also since Starr and called them earlier and informed them of the situation, as well as Markko and Langston who were not at the station.

"Mom!" Cole shouted seeing his mother with Starr and Nicole. He ran up and embraced her.

"Cole!'' Marty cried "my son".

The moment the police brought Todd in Cole launched for him "I should rip your eyes out!" he yelled but John held him back.

"Cole that's enough" he told him "the both of you have already made enough threats at each other".

"He should be locked up for good" Cole said ''for everything he has done!"

Nicole began to cry because of her father's loud screaming.

"Hey princess I'm sorry" Cole said completely changing his tone into a much gentler one ''daddy's just mad that's all".

"I'm going to go talk to my mom" Starr said as she walked towards Blair.

When she left Cole turned to his mother waiting for her reaction.

"You wife told me about Nicole and that the both of you ran away" Marty said ''it's okay honey I'm not mad, in fact it was partly my fault since I should have been there to help".

"No don't blame yourself" Cole told her "you would have if Mr. Manning didn't take your life away from you".

Meanwhile, as Starr approached her mother Blair looked at her "of all the selfish things your father has done I think this is number one on his list".

Starr nodded "I think Cole will need some time to get this all in and I have to help him through it".

Blair gave her daughter a look of understanding "you want me to take Niki until you guys can go home?"

"Could you?"

"Of course honey" Blair said scooping up Nicole "I'd be more than happy to".

"Thanks mom" Starr smiled at her "I'll see you later Nicole".

Before Blair walked out of the station she turned to John.

"Since Marty has her memory back" she said softly "I'm sure you want to continue your relationship where you guys left off".

"I'm sure she'd like that" John replied "but I'm going to have to tell her that my heart belongs to someone else".

Blair beamed inside but gave him a small smile and walked out.

"Mom where are you going to stay?" Cole asked "you want to come home with us? we got room".

"No it's all right" Marty said "I talked to Nora and she agreed I could move back in, look it's getting late you guys better go, I can handle myself".

"Are you sure Marty" Starr said "we don't mind staying the whole night".

"I'm fine Starr" she insisted before handing the ring back to her "here".

"Oh-no Marty if you want to keep it that's..."

Marty shook her head and placed the ring in her palms "it's yours now".

Starr smiled "thank-you".

As her and Cole got into the car something fell out of Cole's pocket in the driver's seat... it was a small package of drugs.


	19. Chapter 19

**No one can tear us apart**

**Note: Well Starr and Cole didn't get married but at least Cole won't have to go to jail and can be there for his daughter and the woman he loves. You might be wondering why the last chapter was so long, well that's because this story is coming to an end**, :**sniffs again:** **only two more long chapters to go.**

"Cole what the hell are these?" Starr asked picking up the pack "are you taking drugs again?"

"No I'm not" Cole said more surprised than she was "someone must have slipped them in my pocket".

Starr crossed her arms over her chest "who? The tooth fairy?"

"I'm telling you Starr those aren't mine" Cole insisted ''there were smokers outside the arena where Markko and me were at, maybe its theirs".

"So you're at the basketball game" Starr said walking away from the seat and towards him "I call you to tell you that your mother is alive, you and Markko rush out and someone magically slips these in your pocket".

"Don't snap at me like that" Cole told her angrily "I told you the drugs don't belong to me, what more do you want?"

"I want the truth!"

"Well I've already told you the truth!"

"Cole" Starr said calmly changing her temper "I know you're going through a lot..."

"You bet I am!" Cole snapped closing the car door and leaning against it "for three years thinking my mother was dead now I finally know she's alive and unharmed but I also find out that the grandfather of my child was keeping her right under everyone's noses".

"I know" Starr reminded him "you're not the only one whose mad at Todd Manning, that's why I know you'd never take drugs again".

Cole turned to her "so you believe me?"

She nodded ''you'd never do that to me or Nicole".

He took her shoulders forcing her to face him as he looked deep into her eyes "ever since we were married I had made a vow to the both of you never to repeat my past mistakes".

_Flashback_

_Aaron walks Starr down the aisle as the wedding dress she wears flows to the ground with a small veil on her face. Cole looks up wearing his tuxedo and smiles at his bride to be as the maid of honor Misty and best man Derek wait along the side._

_Aaron continues to smile as he lifts the veil from Starr's face and kisses her cheek "good luck" he says before handing her off to Cole._

_As they both walk to the priest Starr and Cole smile at their one-year daughter Nicole who is seated with one of the staff members Starr works with._

_The rest of the small group of people grow quiet as the ceremony begins.  
_

_Starr and Cole a deep breath as they realize their days of pretending to be a couple would finally end and that now they could be husband and wife._

_"Do you Cole Thornheart take this women to be your beloved wife?" the priest asks "to love and honor in sickness and in health till death do you part?"_

_Cole smiles "I do"._

_"Do you Starr Manning" the priest asks her "take this man to be your beloved husband? In sickness and in health till death do you part?"_

_Starr smiles back "I do"._

_"By the power vested in me by me" the priest proclaims "I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride"._

_Everybody stands up and applauds as Cole and Starr share their first kiss as a married couple._

_"I love you" Cole says to his wife._

_"I love you too" Starr says kissing him again._

Cole continued to smile remembering the time and took Starr's hands into his "from the moment I said those words I knew I could never go back to drugs or else I would lose everything and everyone I love, so we could argue all night if that's what it takes but I swear to you on our daughter's life that those drugs do not belong to me ''.

"I believe you" Starr said "I can see the truth in your eyes".

"So we don't have to stay here all night?"

Starr laughed "no, in fact I know what we could do when we get home".

She looked at his watch "well my mom thinks we have to stay here for a while so I know what we could do in our spare time".

"Oh" Cole said "what?"

"I think it's something you'll really like" Starr said repeating his flirty words "and since our daughter is at my mom's house and we haven't done it since my nineteenth birthday..."

Cole smiled "that sounds great, but I think I'll give my mom one last call when we get home just to check up on her".

Starr understood "that's fine".

Before they got back into the car Cole took the bag of drugs and threw it deep into a trashcan near by.

Little did they both know that Zach was in his own car near by in the corner of the police station. He knew that Todd's plan was screwed but he still owned him the money he needed.

"Listen Manning" he said on his phone "they only allow one prisoner one phone call so let's make this quick, I planted the drugs in the guy's pocket, now I expect my money in return".

"You're lying'' Todd sneered on the the other line "it didn't work did it?"

"Of course it did".

"Listen Zach we've known each other for a long time and I can tell when you're lying to me".

"Fine the plan didn't work" Zach admitted "but you said I'd get the money if the job was done and technically I finished the job".

As he continued to complain Todd proceeded to ignore him as a new plan developed in his mind.

"Wait I got it" he said but kept his voice in a whisper "you help me with this other task and I guarantee you will get your money plus a little extra payment".

''What kind of task?"

"No questions" Todd spat "just be at the guard's gate in a couple minutes and hurry up" he hung up the phone.

Zach growled as the line went dead getting tired of doing Todd's dirty work but drove to the police station.

He got out of his car and crept up to the window outside Todd's cell.

Todd noticed as he gave him a signal and motioned to his guard "there's someone stalking at my door can you go see who it is".

The guard shook his head and walked outside only to be struck in the back of the head by Zach with his gun. He dug into his pockets and got the keys running to Todd's cell.

"Okay I've completed the task" Zach said "now hand my the money".

"Not yet" Todd told him "what you thought that was the task".

"I broke you out of this hellhole!" Zach said as his face grew red with anger "do you know I could be arrested if they found me".

"Big deal" Todd shrugged "you snuck up and knocked out a guard who should be waking up in a couple of hours, I don't call that any task".

"Well then what do you call a task?"

"You are going to help me kidnap my granddaughter" Todd said with a smirk "I've lost everything and if I can't have my own daughter then neither can he".

Zach backed away from him "okay Manning now you've really lost it, forget the money I don't want any part of this"with that he walked out of the police station.

"Fine" Todd said to himself "I don't need anybody, I'll do this alone".

*******

"Mom are you sure you're okay? I know I've asked a lot of times but I....okay I trust you, I love you too see ya".

Cole hung up his cellphone and sat on top of the bed in the carriage house where him and his family still remained.

Starr came up from behind and hugged him "something wrong?"

"My mom is just getting annoyed at my phone calls" Cole answered miserably.

"She's not" Starr told him "she just doesn't want you to worry about her too much".

"I know but how can I not".

"Turn around".

Cole turned and paused seeing Starr in a short coral coloured nightgown just like the one her mother had.

"When did you get that?" he asked.

"Yesterday" Starr replied "when my mom and me went shopping, I figured I'd buy one since you liked it so much and plus the colour matches my pedicure".

"I love you" Cole said as he grabbed her and pinned her onto the bed playfully and began to kiss her.

*****

"This is the last thing we need" Todd said as he placed an outfit into the suitcase that had pictures of Barbie all over it. He folded it up, zipped up the suitcase and held it onto the bed before looking at his watch. He knew that his daughter and her husband would have to remain at the police station for a while so there was only one person they would let their child stay with until they got home... Blair. Todd didn't want his daughter to be too upset after he had kidnapped her child, she was still his daughter after all and he still loved her. His plan was that he would raise Nicole by himself out of town and tell her about her parents when she was old enough and give her back.

He looked at the picture that was on top of his dresser of Starr and the boys "I'm doing this because I love you Starr" he said taking the picture "you need to understand that" he placed it back, grabbed both suitcases and headed out the door.

*****

"Now what story do you want me to read to you Nicole?" Blair asked as she got the child ready for her nap "Snow White or Cinderella?"

"Both!" Nicole cried jumping up.

"Both?" Blair said "how about we read Cinderella first then Snow White".

After she had sat on the bed beside Nicole and was about to open the book Dorian came in a bathrobe.

"I'm going to take a shower" she told her "Langston and Markko are downstairs if you need them".

"Okay Dorian".

Dorian walked into the bathroom and turned on the water to the perfect temperature before slipping off her robe and stepping in.

"Once upon a time" Blair began as she read the story "there lived an old widow with his daughter Cinderella...."

Little did they know a shadow formed near the window and was getting closer...and closer.

*****

"I can't believe Cole's mom is still alive" Langston said as her and Markko played a game of Monopoly in the living-room.

"I know" Markko said "so many new secrets are coming out".

"Well at least...." Langston said but was cut off by a loud noise that occured upstairs.

"What was that?" Markko asked.

"I don't know" Langston replied "Sam and Jack are outside, Dorian is in the shower".

"The only people in the house are Blair and Nicole" he added.

The both of them dropped the game pieces and raced upstairs. When they finally came across the bedroom sight, the bed sheets had been tangled up, the dresser and nightstand had fallen to the floor, cushions and pillows laid scattered everywhere and the window was broken into a million pieces but the worst site of all was... that Blair was knocked out in a pool of blood and Nicole was nowhere to be found.

"No" Markko said horrified "not now no!"

"Blair!" Langston screamed rushing to her side.

"What's going on?" Dorian asked as she entered the room in her robe with her hair dripping wet "oh dear Lord" she held a hand to her heart trying to over come the scene"Markko call 911 and make sure Jack and Sam don't see this".

Markko nodded and headed downstairs.

"Langston?" Dorian asked slowly coming to Blair's side as well "is she breathing?"

******

Todd was driving at a constant speed in a black vehicle where no one could see him. Just as he was about to make it to Blair's house when his cellphone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Manning" Zach's voice said "you wanna reconsider giving me my money now".

"Why would I did that, you won't tell anyone where I am because then I will inform the police that you were responsible for my escape".

"Think again Todd" Zach said ''you see before you wanted to put your plan into action someone beat you to the house".

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly he heard a soft whimper in the background.

"You took Nicole!" Todd exclaimed "I thought you'd never want to help me!"

Zach laughed darkly "it was a great plan, too bad I hadn't thought of it myself, it was really easy sneaking in and stabbing your ex-wife, now listen I'm giving the orders now, meet me at the Llanview bridge in two hours with the money and I'll give you your grandchild...if you are more than one minute late someone will be sleeping with the fishes tonight".

With that he hung up his phone.

**Oh-no!**

**Zach has Nicole!**

**Will the others save her in time? Is Blair okay? Did she die trying to protect her grandchild? How will Starr and Cole react? Will I stop asking these questions? **

**Yeah!  
**

**Find out in the last chapter**

**till then, Butterflygirl1234  
**


	20. Chapter 20

**No one can tear us apart**

Langston pressed her fingers against Blair's neck "I can feel a pulse" she told Dorian before shaking Blair gently "Blair can you hear me?"

"Mmm?" Blair groaned tilting her head to the side.

"Blair honey" Dorian said "it's us''.

Blair finally stood up but winced when she felt a twitch of pain on her shoulder.

"Your shoulder!" Dorian said horrified seeing blood leaking from her niece's shirt. She reached over and ripped the curtains from the window that were somewhat tangled as well. She tore them in half to make a bandage and wrapped it around Blair's shoulder.

Langston helped Blair onto her feet "what happened? Where's Nicole?"

She quickly remembered "one of Todd's men! He broke in! He stabbed me with a large pocket knife!" She looked around the room hoping her grandchild was somewhere present but she was not.

"Oh-no" Blair said covering her mouth with her hand "Zach took Nicole".

Langston and Dorian looked at one another with sorrowful eyes.

There was a moment of silence before Dorian came forward "are you sure he took her?"

"Of course I'm sure!" Blair exclaimed "where else could she be?!"

"Okay Blair calm down" Dorian said.

"Calm down! How the hell am I supposed to calm down when a former rapist just kidnapped my grandchild?!!"

"The police are on their way" Langston told her "but you're not helping by making this situation worse than it is''

"She's right darling" Dorian agreed facing Blair "all we can do now is call Starr and Cole and inform them right away about this situation".

Blair hung her head "Starr is going to be furious with me".

*********

The time that Starr and Cole had to spare was almost up and now they were cuddling tenderly.

_Beep! Beep! _

The ringing of Starr's cellphone came up.

"Oh do you have to get it?" Cole groaned "Markkos probably trying to joke around".

"It won't be long I promise" Starr said as she smiled and reached for the phone "hello? Hi Langston what's up?"

Her smile soon turned into a huge frown as she sat up in bed "What! Where is she?! We'll be there right away!"

Without saying one more word to Cole she got out of bed fast and gathered up all her clothes on the floor.

"Hey, hey what's wrong?" Cole asked noticing his wife's strange behavior.

She turned to him ''Nicole has been kidnapped!".

*******

Meanwhile, Todd has retrieved Zach's number and now dialed it again "look Zach if you want the money I'll give it to you but Nicole has nothing to do with this so just let her go!"

"I don't think so Manning" Zach sneered "you think I'd be stupid enough to believe that you would keep your end to the deal if I give her back to you before, I don't know why your being so paranoid, your granddaughter is such a lovely girl, hard to believe she's related to you". He paused before adding "listen, I'm calling the shots now so deal with it, like I said before I'm going to give you two hours to pay up and then you can continue with your little kidnapping plan to make the world hate you even more".

As he hung up Todd had no choice but to turn his car around and head back to his house to get what Zach wanted.

******

Policemen, including John McBain, Bo Buchanan, and Oliver Fish surrounded the Cramer household. Addie had taken Jack and Sam somewhere where they could not witness this terrible scene while Markko, Langston, and Dorian watched as a medical officer treated Blair's shoulder on the staircase.

Starr burst in through the door seeing all the police cars outside. She ran to John "where's Nicole?!" she repeated "where's my baby?!"

"Apparently one of your dad's old friends took her" John replied keeping his voice serious and low "your mom was putting Nicole for a nap when this man came up and stabbed her".

"What!" Starr suddenly said before spotting her mother "mom!"

"Starr I'm so sorry" Blair said when her daughter hugged her "I tried to fight him but he managed to stab me".

Langston leaned over to hug Starr as both her and her mother started to cry.

"John have you guys got anything?" Cole asked.

"Not yet so far".

" Look this is my daughter we're talking about here" Cole said "you know how much Todd hates me, he probably set this whole thing up and set one of his men to do it so he wouldn't get caught".

"No my dad could never do that" Starr disagreed hearing him as her and her mom stopped crying "he would never hurt me like this".

"Well I don't know about that Starr" John said facing Cole "but we've got an Amber Alert for a missing child and we're going to Manning's house to bring him in for questioning". He placed a hand on Cole's shoulder "don't worry we'll find her".

"Lieutenant'' the Medical examiner said "Mrs. Cramer's injury is pretty deep, I've afraid we'll have to bring her to the hospital".

"Forget that!" Blair snapped wiggling out of her grasp "I'm staying with my daughter!"

"No mom" Starr said as she let go of her "you need to be at the hospital, I can't loose someone else that I love".

"You need to do as she says" Dorian said "I'll go with you".

"Please mom'' Starr pleaded.

Blair looked at her for a moment then gave in and got to her feet letting the medical examiner and Dorian escort her out.

As she left she looked at John

"I'll be at the hospital as soon as I can" he said.

"Don't worry about me, just please find Nicole".

"Langston please call everyone else" Starr told her friend "call Marty, Viki, Jessica everyone".

"Where are you going?" she asked as she started to leave "Starr?"

"I just want to be alone right now" Starr said as she entered the living-room, she turned to Cole and forced a small smile and closed the doors.

"Poor Starr" Markko said shaking his head.

"I'll start calling everyone" Langston said "it's the least I could do for her".

When she left Markko came behind Cole "you okay man?"

"How can I be okay?" Cole said not looking at him "my daughter's been kidnapped, my mother-in-law got stabbed, John doesn't have any leads".

"It will be okay" Markko assured him "John and Bo are the best in the business, they'll find her".

"Well I sure hope so" Cole said heading for the front door "I need some alone time"

******

Back in the living-room Starr sat on the couch remembering the one precious moment that changed her life forever.

_Flashback_

_"Starr come on you need to push!" a Nurse says as her and Cole try to help Starr give birth._

_"I don't think I can" Starr moans unable to beat the pain "can't we just leave it in there?!"_

_Cole comes closer to her and holds her hand "Starr listen to me, you know we can't leave the baby in there, it needs to finally meet her parents and see the world, we've waited for this our whole life, our baby is finally coming"._

_Starr looks at him "okay just don't leave me"._

_"You know I would never do that" he squeezes her hand._

_Starr nodded to the Nurse "okay I'm ready"._

_"All right now push!"_

_Starr screams feeling all the energy drained from her body but stops when she hears a cry occur in the hospital wing._

_"Congratulations" The Nurse says holding up a naked, red faced baby ''it's a girl"._

_Starr is overjoyed and looks at Cole who smiles back and kisses her hand "we did it"._

_The nurse wraps the baby in a pink blanket and hands her to Starr._

_"Hi baby" Starr coos unable to believe the sight "welcome to the world Nicole Marty Thornheart"._

_She turns to Cole and hands him the baby ''look that's your daddy"._

_"She's so beautiful" Cole says as he holds his daughter in his arms as the baby looks at him with innocent eyes._

New tears started to emerge from Starr's eyes as the memory faded. She wrapped her arms around her knees hanging her head as she continued to cry "Oh Nicole".

*******

Todd placed all the money in a brief suitcase, even though it had only been a couple of minutes he wanted to get there as soon as possible to retrieve his grandchild right away and give that bastard Zach what he wanted, it was bad enough that Cole Thornheart took his daughter away from him but now he had to deal with his own sticky situation.

Just as he was about to go down the stairs with the bag of money in his hands he stopped. Soon he realized that it wasn't Cole's fault that Zach had broken it and kidnapped Nicole, it was HIS fault. So the good old Todd the toad had finally committed a crime that was so terrible and outrageous, his family members had gotten involved. He didn't mean for this to happen but was sure this would hurt his daughter so much and that was the last thing he wanted to do. No, he couldn't go through it, even though he hated Cole that much he could never break his daughter's heart, as soon as he paid Zach he would take back Nicole and give her back to her real family and hopefully he could still be in that little girl's life because he really did love that child. Todd took the suitcase, headed down the stairs and opened the door but two police officers with John McBain were present.

"Not so fast Todd" John spat "now where did you take her?"

********

_Ding Dong!_

Markko opened the door seeing Marty and Viki, the first two people Langston had called.

"We came as soon as we heard" Viki said "how's Starr and Cole?''

"Not good" Markko replied "Starr's in the living-room by herself and Cole is out in the backyard".

"Well has John got any leads yet?" Marty asked as the three of them entered the hallway "are the police still searching?"

"They don't have anything yet, all they know is that it was Todd's old friend Zach" Markko explained "but John is pretty sure Todd has something to do with this so he went to his house".

"They think Todd is responsible" Viki said "but why would he kidnap his own grandchild?"

"Zach?" Marty said horrified "he was one of the men who raped me, yeah I'm pretty sure Todd and him are teaming up again".

"Oh good you both are here" Langston said as she entered "Viki Starr's in the living-room and Marty I think you need to talk to Cole".

Markko nodded "I'll show you".

Starr walked around the living-room when something on the opposite couch caught her eye, it was Nicole's favorite Barbie doll, the one that Cole and her bought her for her first birthday present.

She bent down and took the doll clinging it close to her heart. She tried to fight back the tears but as soon as she saw her aunt coming in she broke down. Starr rushed into her Viki's arms and began to cry uncontrollably.

"I want my little girl back" Starr cried "I want her back so bad".

"Shh Starr" her aunt said holding her in an embrace "I'm here".

After she had finally stopped crying Viki led her to the couch "it's going to be okay darling, the police will find her". She took out a tissue from a box that was on the coffee table and handed it to her.

"That's what everybody says" Starr told her wiping her eyes and blowing her nose.

"How's your mother?"

"She's fine, she suffered a pretty bad injury but she's going to make it".

Starr showed Viki the doll she still had in her hands "you know we bought her this for her 1st birthday" she said giving a small smile it was nothing much, just a few friends and a huge birthday cake but still" she faced her aunt "ever since that day she's been carrying it with her non-stop".

Viki nodded "I understand what your going through, I went through the same thing when Jessica was kidnapped as a baby".

Starr looked at her "well Jessica was kidnapped by a psychopath patient" she stood up "now people believe that my father is the number one suspect behind this whole thing".

"Do you believe it?"

"I don't know, I know how much he hates Cole but I could never picture him doing something like this and how could he?"

******

" I don't know what you're talking about" Todd lied to the three cops "my grandchild is missing and you're wasting you time here talking to me I mean..."

"Search the briefcase" John ordered as the two police men aimed for Todd.

"Wait" Todd said holding up his arm "okay you caught me, my former friend Zach is the one who kidnapped Nicole by himself".

"Are you sure that's the truth?" John said "or is it another one of your damn lies".

"No I'm seriously, he wanted money from me that I refused to give him so he took advantaged of it and stabbed Blair".

"What's in the briefcase?"

"The money".

"Prove it".

Todd scowled as he opened the case and the green dollar bills came into view "there are you satisfied? Now you need to let me go to this guy at Llanview bridge so I could give him he money or else he's going to drown Nicole".

"You're not going anywhere near that little girl" John stated "not after all you've put her through".

The two men slammed Todd against the wall and cuffed him up.

"Take him to headquarters" John told one of the guys "if he is telling the truth, he could still be charged as an associate".

"You're making a mistake!" Todd yelled as he was dragged out of his own home ''you've got the wrong guy!"

*******

Langston and Markko stood quietly on the staircase steps hugging each other.

"I can't believe this is happening" she said "after all Starr and Cole have been through, now this".

"I know" Markko agreed "but all we can do now is hope and pray that Nicole comes home safe and that John nabs the guy who did it, whether it's Todd or not''.

Langston faced him "I hope we never have to go through the same thing when we have a little girl of our own".

He kissed her softly on the lips "there's no way in hell I would ever let that happen".

Marty and Cole swiftly came in.

"Hey Cole how you feeling?" Langston asked.

"I feel a little calmer" Cole said "my mom and I had a smooth talk".

Just then the living-room doors opened. Cole quickly walked over to his wife and her aunt "Hi Mrs. Davidson".

"Hello Cole" she smiled.

"How are you?" he asked her.

"I'm better now" Starr answered "my aunt is always someone I can talk to and I have hope that everything will be okay, we've fought through things and this is just another one on our list".

Cole nodded.

"Starr would you like some cookies and coffee?" Langston said "I can make us all a cup".

"Yes please".

"Here let me help you with that" Viki said following Langston into the kitchen.

"Make that three" Marty said joining the group.

Just then the phone rang.

"I'll get it" Markko volunteered.

A few minutes later he emerged with the phone still in his hands "Cole John wants to speak with you".

Cole took the phone "what's up John, have you figured out anything?"

"We've got Manning in custody" John told him "he told us that one of his guys took Nicole to Llanview bridge, we're on our way there right now".

"Okay Starr and I will be there" Cole said "bye". He placed the phone down and grabbed his keys.

"What's wrong?" Starr asked.

"They know where Nicole is" he said as her eyes lit up.

He turned to Markko and took Starr's hand "tell everybody the situation, we're going there right now".

"You've got it!" Markko called and Starr and Cole ran to their car.

*******

"Don't worry sweetie your grandfather should be here any minute" Zach said to Nicole as he waited outside his car near the bridge and tapped on her window.

The toddler whimpered in fear, normally she enjoyed playing games with her family but she knew being in a stranger's car was _no_ game at all. she started to cry "mommy".

"You're mommy's not here anymore" Zach rolled his eyes ignoring her crying "according to your grandpa, he's your new guardian not...oh shit!" He stopped mid-sentence noticing two police cars coming his way. He quickly got into his car and pulled out his gun and drove in high speed.

"There's Llanview bridge" Starr said as her and Cole came up behind the police cars "step on it!"

"Get out of my face!" Zach shouted as her rolled down his window and fired at one police car but it missed, he fired again this time at one of the front tires and managed to send one car sprawling to the side.

"You okay!" John asked into his mike, luckily he was not in the car that got hit.

"Yeah we're okay, but we can't seem to go one".

"It's okay call for back up right now!"

Zach continued driving but decided this was the time to take the other car out he turned away from the road to the window and fired again.

"Shit!" he cursed again when the bullet missed. He turned back at the stirring wheel and saw a huge truck coming towards him, to prevent the car from hitting him he turned the wheel hard sending the car spinning right into the edge of the bridge!

_Crash!_

The car flew out and landed right in the river!

John stopped his car while Starr and Cole stopped theirs as well.

"NICOLE!" Starr screamed looking down.

John picked up his mike "I need an ambulance down here now!"

"There's not enough time to wait!" Cole said as the car began to sink, he pulled of his shirt and took off his shoes "I'm going in!"

"No" Starr said removing her own shoes "not without me!"

He nodded as they took each others hand and jumped off the bridge.

_Splash!_

The water was a little cold and heavy but it didn't matter to them.

Cole dived into the water aiming for the back door. Underneath he could see Zach knocked out at the wheel and Nicole still looking around frightened.

With the last minute of his breath Cole came up to the surface.

"Do you see her?!" Starr yelled.

"She's in the back seat!"

This time they both dove again swimming to the back side where the child was. Nicole smiled seeing her parents at the window.

"Nicol...e" Starr gurgled still in the water, she made herself open her mouth and close it indicating Nicole to hold her breath. Nicole looked at the sign her mother was making and understood. When Cole opened the car she did immediately as she was told and held her breath. He tried to take off her seat belt but it was stuck.

Starr placed her hands on the belt and the both of them pulled as hard as they could until it finally snapped opened.

Cole grabbed his daughter and handed her to Starr who swam away from the car with Cole following behind her.

"Cole!" she yelled when she thought she couldn't see him.

"I'm here!" he called from behind.

Just then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He turned around seeing the other swimming figure "John?"

"Don't worry, just stay with your family".

Cole looked at his wife with was still carrying their daughter who was clinging onto her mother's shirt.

He nodded and swam ahead until all three of them reached the shore.

Starr ran ahead until they were on the dry grass.

"Are you guys okay?" Cole asked as they sat on a huge rock.

Starr looked over at Nicole who started coughing and spitting out water "are you okay Niki?"

Nicole nodded weakly but started to shake.

"Oh baby!" Starr cried not letting her go ''I'm so glad you're okay"

"Same here" Cole said wrapping an arm around Starr and hugging his family.

Then they heard sirens.

A few minutes later Starr and Nicole were wrapped up in a blanket while Cole had his own. While he explained the story to the police an ambulance officer came up to Starr.

"How are you feeling Mrs. Thornheart?" he asked.

"Fine" she said as she held her daughter who was now asleep.

"Well I think we should just take Nicole in for a check-up" he told her "she might have swallowed too much water for a child''.

"Okay my husband and I will be right behind you" Starr said as she handed Nicole to him and headed for Cole.

As she went for him something out of the water caught her eye. John came out and dragged a knocked out Zach.

She quickly ran to him "that bastard is not riding in the same ambulance as me daughter!" she shrieked "over my dead body!"

"You don't have to worry about a thing Starr" John said as two officers took Zach "he's going to have to wait for another one".

Cole came up behind "did he mention why he was behind the kidnapping?"

John shook his head "knocked out before I could ask anything".

********

The check-up with Nicole only took a few hours and once everything was tested that she was fine Starr and Cole took her back to the carriage house where everyone was overjoyed to see her safe and sound. Blair still recovered from her injury and had to wear a cast for more than six weeks but all that mattered to her was that Nicole was finally found. Once Zach woke up he was arrested for attempt kidnapping even though he spilled the beans about Todd's previous plan on taking the child himself.

Todd stood still in the prison uniform but on the platform when the guard said he had a visitor. Starr walked in the platform and faced her father. It was the day she wanted to confront him about this, Cole had offered to come with her but Starr said she could do this alone so he just stayed home with his daughter.

Todd took the phone "hi Starr how's Nicole? Is she all right?"

"She's fine" Starr said coldly "it's a miracle she survived but why should I tell you that when you don't even care".

"Starr you now I do..."

"Just ssh" Starr interrupted putting a finger to her lips and giving his a hard stare "I've had to deal with your lame lies all my life and now it is the time you can finally tell me the truth... was Zach telling the truth? Where you planning on taking my little girl away from me?"

Todd stood there for while then admitted "yes I was".

His daughter leaned away and covered her mouth with her hand "I cannot believe you! After all the horrible things you've put me and my family through I cannot believe you would hurt me like this!"

"Starr I can explain..."

"No you can't explain anything! You were upset about the fact that Cole and I wanted to be together and that you could never drive me away from him so you wanted to take the one thing that mattered to both of us''.

"No that's not true" Todd insisted "I was planning on taking Nicole and raising her and loving her until she was old enough to learn what kind of a man her father really was and then I would give her back to you".

"Oh so you were doing me a favor" Starr said rolling her eyes as she faced him again "you would brainwash my daughter into thinking her father was such a mean, despicable person and then you planned to give her back to me".

"He raped you".

"He never raped me!" Starr yelled facing him through the screen "how many times must I repeat myself, he would never do that to me, the only real rapist I know is _you_!"

"Okay I admit it was a bad plan and I never should have mixed up Zach into this".

"You're damn right you shouldn't have!" Starr snapped "my daughter could have died because of you! You know that's it we're done!" She started to leave when she heard his voice say

"I couldn't do it Starr!"

She turned back and made her way to the seat "what?"

"I couldn't do it" he said softly "even though my feelings for Cole where way different than your I realized couldn't go through with it and hurt you like this so as soon I figured as soon as I paid Zach and he was out I would take Nicole to her real home". He reached over and tried to take Starr's hand but she pulled away.

"It doesn't matter if you changed your mind because what matters is the fact that you were going to steal my baby" Starr told him firmly "that's why Cole and I ran away for three years, that's why everybody was grieving over our disappearance because this is how it would turn out, what happened to the loving and caring father I had as a small child?"

"He is still here" Todd insisted "you know you and the boys mean everything to me, I love the three of you so much".

"Bull shit!" Starr spat "if you loved me at all you would never plan to tear my family apart in the first place, I was right you're never going to change, now you're going to jail and I will never mention you to my daughter again and when she is old enough I will tell her the horrible crimes you committed so go to hell!"

She put the phone back and turned to the guard "we're done!"

"No Starr wait!" Todd yelled "wait!"

She faced him again only to mention "congratulations Todd Manning you've got two sons and no daughter".

******

Two hours later Starr and Cole were at the park with her mom, Jack, Sam, Marcie, Micheal, and little Gabriella. Starr watched and smiled as Cole helped their daughter on the slide while Micheal pushed his little dark haired girl on the swings.

Starr sighed when she finished telling Marcie what happened in the prison cell with her father.

"Well it's over now Starr" Marcie assured her touching her shoulder "your daughter is safe, your dad is in prison and you and Cole have the rest of your lives to spend together".

"I know" Starr nodded ''and I'm going to make sure they have double guards on him every night, I just can't believe I lost my dad".

"He has hurt a lot of people so he has to accept the consequences''.

Starr looked at her mother who was seated at an opposite bench with her arm in a cast. She watched as John came over with a flower and gave it to Blair. They both smiled and ended in an embrace watching Sam and Jack chase each other in a game of tag. Starr's gaze was shifted when Nicole slid down the slide and was grabbed by her father and held up in the air.

"Hey Cole!" Sam shouted as he and Jack smirked at each other "we're going to get you!"

"Oh-no!" Cole shouted pretending to be scared as he began to run with his daughter still in his arms "Niki protect me! Protect your dad!"

Starr couldn't help but giggle to herself.

"Shoot" Marcie said "Gabriella dropped her pacifier, I'll be right back".

Since Cole was running out of breath he let Jack take his place in their game and made his way over to Starr.

"Hey" he said as he took a seat beside her on the blanket "this was a great day to go to the park".

"I know" Starr agreed noticing the warm air and sun "it's perfect".

"How are you really?" Cole asked "your dad still on your mind?"

"No" Starr said "I've accepted the fact that he's going to prison for a while and the actions he has done, besides he's not my life anymore you're my life now, you and Nicole".

Cole smiled "and I will always be there". He paused before adding "you know I'm thinking maybe we could plan another party, just celebrating the fact that Niki is safe and your dad will never come between us again".

"That sounds like fun" Starr said "we could plan it in a few days and even invite Misty, Derek, Aaron since we will be going back home in a couple of weeks".

"Yeah" Cole nodded then kept his voice at a serious tone "you know that was a very brave thing you did, I still can't believe you managed to tell off your dad like that, no offense".

"Hey" she told him "no one can tear us apart".

And then they kissed like there was no tomorrow.

**The End **

**Well this story is finally done, stay tuned because I have an author's note coming up and for those of you who are wondering why I decided to put John and Blair together in this story I just felt that they had better chemistry than the new Marty and John but that's just my opinion(too bad she's messing with Todd on the show Aagh!).**

**Till then, Butterflygirl1234**


	21. Author's Note

**Hey everybody!**

**It's Butterflygirl1234, I'd like to take this time to thank all the readers who have read and supported this story all the way. This was my first One Life to Live Fanfic and I was hoping to get a lot of reviews which I did. I will try to read you guy's stories if you post any. But for me, I think I'm going to take a break from writing now and enjoy the rest of my summer. I will continue to watch OLTL regularly and hopefully Cole and John will nab the real druggie so Cole can finally be free and he and Starr can raise baby Hope together. I don't know still.... I have a funny feeling Todd will try to prevent that from happening in the future but I hope it doesn't work. **

**Anyways thank- you so much to **Dueler312, Flyawayhome624, bookworm142, Brookie Cookie Renee, 09teacher-n-training, AJDG, 2loveistodream14, emma217, my silent readers and anybody else who had read, reviewed or added this story to their favorites list.

THANK-YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU!

YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!!


End file.
